Unless you’re a vegetarian (and to my friends who are, I apologise) what’s better than taking a bite of a succulent bite of roast rack of pork? If you’re me, there’s not much. I placed one forkful in my mouth and it was so good I’m sure my eyes rolled to the back of my head.
A friend who was visiting for dinner said she rarely cooked a pork roast (or any roast for that matter) because hers always ended up dry and unpleasant and after spending a small fortune on the meat, it had better be good and hers wasn’t. I casually asked if she used a meat thermometer and she asked why. Nuff said and that’s the reason her roasts are overcooked and dry.
Yes, it’s possible to go with the recommended time per pound or kilogram but a meat thermometer takes all the guesswork out. I’m not recommending any particular meat thermometer and if you have one you think is brilliant, please share in the comments. My roasts went from okay to fantastic once I decided what temperature produced a roast we loved.
This rack of pork was gifted to me from Murray Valley Pork and everyone at the table was grateful.
I rinsed and patted the pork dry and left it to come to room temperatures. I sliced a large brown onion and placed it on the bottom of a roasting pan for the roast to sit on. A little bit of olive oil and some salt, pepper and thyme and this roast was ready for a preheated oven at 220C/425F for 20 minutes when I turned it down to 180C/350F for the remainder of cooking.
This was a huge roast and I usually figure 45 minutes per kilogram of oven time. When it got close, I poked the meat thermometer in the thickest part of the roast and it was 69C. When it was 71C/160F, it came out of the oven looking like this.
I served it with scalloped potatoes covered in buttered panko crumbs, steamed broccoli and baby carrots drizzled with balsamic vinegar.
- 1 rack of pork (you can trim the bones or ask your butcher or leave them as is)
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 large brown onion, sliced thinly
- Wash and pat roast dry and leave to come to room temperature, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven 220C/425F
- In a roasting pan large enough for the roast, place the sliced onions then place the roast on top.
- Rub the roast with olive oil and then sprinkle with salt, pepper and thyme.
- Place in oven for 20 minutes and then reduce the heat to 180C/350F until internal temperature is 71C/160F. Remove from oven and let sit for a minimum of 10 minutes.
- Skim fat off the drippings and deglaze pan and strain the juices.
- This is not a recipe but just how I make gravy. You can do the roux method but for me this is quick.
- I put a couple of tablespoons of flour in a jar along with half a cup of water and put the lid on the jar and shake like crazy - no lumps.
- Once the pan drippings are boiling, I whisk in the flour slurry until it's the thickness I like then I cook for a minute or two more to ensure the flour is done. Then I taste for seasoning and it's done. It all depends upon how much pan drippings you have as to how much flour you'll need.