Update your old-fashioned pork roast by adding a decadent bacon-bourbon sauce. The alcoholic addition creates a perfect level of smokiness for this oven-roasted meal.
Ingredients
1 Chairman’s Reserve® pork center loin roast, chine bone removed (6 ribs, about 4 ½ pounds)
1 garlic clove, cut into 12 slivers
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 ½ teaspoons coarse (kosher) salt
¾ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons finely chopped sage
Sauce
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ cup bourbon
1¾ cups canned reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon stone-ground Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 strips crisp-cooked bacon, coarsely chopped
Directions
- Using tip of a sharp thin knife, poke 12 slits, each about 1 inch deep, all over pork and insert a garlic sliver in each. Rub roast with oil and season all over with salt and pepper. Sprinkle sage over top of roast.
- Preheat oven to 325ºF. Place roast, fat side up, on meat rack in shallow roasting pan. Do not add water or cover. Roast for 1¾ to 2 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 145ºF on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from oven and transfer to a serving platter. Let stand for 10 to 15 minutes. (Temperature will rise 5º to 10ºF during this time.)
- Make the sauce: Discard all but 3 tablespoons of fat from pan. Place on stove over medium-low heat. Add flour and whisk until smooth, scraping up browned bits in pan, and let bubble for 1 minute. Increase heat to medium and pour in bourbon. Add broth, mustard, brown sugar, and soy sauce and bring to a boil. Return heat to medium-low and simmer, whisking, until smooth and thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the bacon.
- Carve roast and serve with the sauce.
Serving suggestions: Roasted sweet potatoes, buttered green beans
For a special presentation, ask your butcher or meat retailer to French the roast’s bones, a technique that removes the fat and lean between and around the bones for extra visual appeal. To do this at home, place the rib roast so the bones and the fat side are facing up. Using a thin sharp knife, make a long cut across the bones about 2 inches from the end (or even more, if you want more bone showing). Cut between each of the bones, down to the cut line, removing the meat between the bones. (Discard the meat or save for another use.) Use the knife to go back and scrape and clean around each bone.
