What is a Crown Roast?

The holiday season is a unique culinary time, especially in America. We have Thanksgiving at the end of November and then a month later we have Christmas! Most of us are turkey’d out after November and the family gatherings and holiday parties in December can bring about the same consistent fare. Shake things up at your holiday table with a stunning centerpiece that will be the crown jewel of your dinner table!

The crown roast is both impressive to behold and easy to make, you just need the pork racks, some basic techniques, and patience to go low and slow. Our team worked to create the perfect recipe for the juiciest pork and a show stopping display.

HOW TO PREPARE YOUR PORK RACKS

We have covered how to clean a bone-in rack in our pistachio encrusted rack of lamb article, and no matter the size of the animal the procedure is the same. As a quick refresher, start by removing the muscle that lies on top of the bones first, then with the cap removed you can focus on the bones.

Use a sharp boning knife and make a U-shaped cut running down one bone and back up the side of the next one. Repeat this process down the entire rack. Next comes the tedious part, but a required part of the presentation process, cleaning each of the bones.

My preferred method is to take a knife I don’t care about then hold the blade perpendicular to the bone, and scrape from the muscle to tip of the bone to remove all the meat. Use the tip of the knife to get into the valleys and remove any meat as this will turn black in the oven and discolor the bones. Once you have scraped the bones clean, use a paper towel to scrape any additional loosened up meat that may be left. When the bones are clean it’s time to season.

We suggest, but it’s not required, taking the trimmings, and roasting them in a 400°F (205°C) oven till dark roasted brown. Drain the fat, then add the meat, some carrots, celery, bay leaves, and garlic to a pot with enough water to cover everything. Let this simmer for an hour, semi covered, then strain out the solids saving back the pork broth for the sauce at the end.

WET BRINE, DRY BRINE, OR NO BRINE

Pork chops are made from a long continues muscle of fast twitch fibers creating a very learn and easy to dry out cut of meat. A wet brine can provide both some added protection and flavor to cut chops, but our team found that we preferred a dry brine on the pork roast. We keep it simple with just salt, pepper, and granulated garlic but you can adjust to your tastes. We let this sit on our pork, on a wire rack in the refrigerator for 24 hours. The dry brine adds flavor and will deeply season the pork without introducing extra liquid. You can choose to wet brine, just make sure to dry the meat completely before cooking.

ROASTING THE PORK

Preheat your oven to 250°F (121°C) and remove the pork from the refrigerator. Make two slits in the end of each loin and run some butchers twine between them to tie the meat together. Make a foil ball and wrap the two loins around the ball. Tie a long line of butcher’s twine around the loins and pull semi tight. Once you have this tied rotate the racks 90 degrees and tie it again, this will put pressure on the ends of the racks to pull them together. You can wrap the bones with foil to prevent them from getting dark in the oven if you want, purely presentational. Now you are ready to roast!

Put your aromatics, apples, and herbs on the bottom of your roasting pan, add a little seasoning of salt and pepper. Place the rack on top and drizzle the meat with a little bit of oil. Insert the probes from the Chefstemp Quad XPro into the thickest part of the meat, our advice is to use at least 2 probes to monitor both sides of the roast. Set your alarms for 135°F (57°C), which should take around 2-2.5 hours.

When the roast hits the desired temperature remove the pan from the oven, then increase the temperature to 500°F (260°C). When the oven comes up to heat, put the roast back in and continue to cook for an additional 10-15 minutes. You are doing this to achieve that beautiful deep roasted color and flavor. The final internal temperature should be around 140-145°F (60-63°C).

Remove the roast from the pan to a plate, place the roasting pan on the stove and add the shallots, thyme sprigs, and butter. Sauté over medium high heat till the shallots are just tender then add some brandy, scraping up any of the bits stuck to the pan and then add the pork broth. Let this simmer, smashing the apples and oranges into the sauce, till the sauce thickens. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Strain the sauce, making sure to really squeeze all the liquid from the solids.

You can now arrange the roast on a platter with greens, fruit, little paper hats on the bones, herbs, however you want to create an exceptional centerpiece. When the oooos and ahhhs have passed, slice the strings, then carve the roast tableside.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 racks of pork
• Salt, pepper, granulated garlic
• 3 golden delicious apples
• 6 cloves garlic
• 1 orange
• ½ yellow onion
• 1 bunch sage
• 1 bunch thyme

Apple Brandy Pan Sauce

• 1 large shallot, diced
• 6 sprigs thyme
• 1/3 C Brandy
• 2 C pork Broth

INSTRUCTIONS

Clean the rack

• Remove the muscle that lies on top of the bones first then with the cap removed you can focus on the bones, making sure to remove the meat and sinew to keep them clean during cooking.
• Use a sharp boning knife and make a U-shaped cut running down one bone and back up the side of the next one.
• Repeat this process down the entire rack.
• Hold your blade perpendicular to the bone and scrape from meat to tip to remove all the material.
• Use the point to get into the valleys and remove any meat
• Once you have scraped the bones clean, use a paper towel to scrape any additional loosened up material that may be left.

Seasoning, Tying, Roasting

• Preheat your oven to 250°F (121°C)
• Make two slits at the end of each loin and run some butchers twine between them to tie the meat together.
• Make a foil ball and wrap the two loins around the ball. Wrap a long line of butcher’s twine around the loins and pull semi tight.
• Rotate the racks 90 degrees and tie it again, this will put pressure on the ends of the racks to pull them together.
• *Optional* wrap the bones with foil to prevent them from getting dark in the oven if you want, purely presentational.
• Put your aromatics, apples, and herbs on the bottom of your roasting pan, add a little seasoning of salt and pepper.
• Place the rack on top and drizzle the meat with a little bit of oil. Insert the probes from the Chefstemp Quad XPro into the thickest part of the meat
• Set your alarms for 135°F (57°C), which should take around 2-2.5 hours.
• When the roast hits the desired temperature remove the pan from the oven, then increase the temperature to 500°F (260°C).
• Put the roast back in and continue to cook for an additional 10-15 minutes.
• The final internal temperature should be a little bit higher than 140-145°F (60-63°C).

Sauce

• Remove the roast from the pan to a plate, place the roasting pan on the stove and add the shallots, thyme sprigs, and butter.
• Sauté over medium high heat till the shallots are just tender then add some brandy, scraping up any of the bits stuck to the pan and then add the pork broth.
• Let this simmer, smashing the apples and oranges into the sauce, till the sauce thickens.
• Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Strain the sauce, making sure to really squeeze all the liquid from the solids.