If you’re thinking of the Big Roast, consider a rib end of pork on the bone. Most butchers offer these as boneless roasts, but on the bone renders more flavorful meat. When I was at Bisson’s Meat Market in Topsham recently, I asked the butcher for a pork roast on the bone. He then suggested that I get the rib end. The reason being that it’s a fattier cut that’s very juicy and tender. The loin cut tends to be dry.
The roast was readied for cooking: bones cracked, for easy carving, and then tied with butcher string to keep it all together.
I seasoned it simply with ground fennel seeds, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper and a final coating of mustard. I put it in my old-fashioned covered roaster, which was made by Revere Ware in the 1950s. I found it on EBay. It’s a great roasting vessel. It’s not one of those heavy bottomed roasters but its aluminum core seems to conduct the heat so well that when I roast a chicken in it or other cuts of meat they it come out beautifully and evenly browned and cooked through. For braising I’d still use enameled cast iron such as a Le Creuset Dutch oven.
I served it with potatoes and carrots roasted along with the meat at 425 degrees all the way for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, or until it reached an internal temperature of about 140 degrees. I’ve also done the roast with vegetables cooked separately. Baked potatoes and roasted carrots and Brussels sprouts are good accompaniments and all local at the farmers’ markets now.
Note: most butchers bone their roasts so it’s a good idea to call ahead to make sure that they have the roast on the bone available.
Ingredients
- 4- to 5-pound pork rib roast on the bone
- 2 tablespoons fennel seeds
- Salt and pepper
- 2 garlic cloves
- Several sprigs thyme
- Olive oil
- About 2 to 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Have your butcher crack the bones and tied for roasting.
- Season very generously all over with kosher salt and pepper.
- Put the fennel seeds in a spice grinder (a mini Cuisinart food processor works well). Set aside. Add the garlic and thyme to the mini food processor and grind. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil and process until almost a paste.
- Season the meat all over with the ground fennel. Rub on the thyme-garlic mixture. Rub the roast all over with mustard. Put on a rack in a roaster and roast, uncovered, for about 1 hour and 20 minutes or until the meat reaches 140 degrees. Roast either with vegetables or without. Let rest 10 minutes before carving.