Silence The Critics – Pork Roast with Cranberry Pinot Sauce

So can you really cook?  Or are you one of those folks that your friends smile and nod and say “wow what a good meal” – only to mock your barely edible shat you threw down yet again…?  Well here is a dish that will silence the critics and you don’t need to be Alice Waters pull it off.  This is a pretty simple meal that produces fantastic results – Pork Roast with Cranberry-Pinot Sauce.

So for the sauce you want to small dice (as small as you can get them) half of a yellow onion and mince 3 cloves of garlic.  Now in a sauce pot, add 4 Tablespoons of butter along with the onions and garlic.  Cook over medium heat until the onions become translucent.  Next toss in 3/4 cup of dried cranberries and cook an additional 3-4 minutes.  Pour in 1 bottle of Pinot Noir wine (try to avoid using super cheap wine – the sauce will taste cheap as a result) and 1/2 can of beef broth or demi glace if you’ve got some just laying around.   Continue cooking over medium high heat until reduced in volume by half.  Next add 1 can of cranberry sauce (yeah that crazy red shit that holds the form of the can) and continue cooking for 10 minutes stirring constantly.  At this point the sauce should begin to thicken up a bit, if not add in a little corn-starch slurry ((corn-starch and red wine mix them into a think liquid) not too much though - the sauce shouldn’t have the consistency of honey or anything).  Lastly stir in a couple tablespoons of butter to give the sauce a nice look.  Be sure to taste the sauce if it’s too tart add some maple syrup or honey, too thick add more wine, etc.

Now for the pork roast, I use a 4 rib standing roast because it looks great and feeds a good sized group (you can use the bones later to make some killer pinto beans or give them to your dog as a special holiday treat).  If you want, have the butcher cut the roast off the “rack” and tie it back on – this makes slicing really easy.  Or if you’re wanting to really sex it up – have him “French” the bones like in the picture.  So you want to season all sides of the roast really well with SLAVO SALT and cracked black pepper.  Get either a large fry pan or if you have a heavy bottom roasting pan use that – get it really hot on the stove top.  Add in a couple tablespoons of grape-seed oil.  Now carefully sear the roast really well on all sides – the goal here is to get nice carmel color all around.  After searing, place the roast in your roasting pan and into a 400° pre-heated oven.  Cook the roast until you get an internal temp of 115° – this takes maybe 40 minutes, but use a thermometer to make sure you don’t over-cook it!  Remove from the oven and allow the roast to sit out uncovered for approximately 15 minutes – DO NOT give into temptation and cut into it right away!  After resting, cut the roast away from the ribs and slice it into 1/2 inch thick pieces.   And here’s a trick – all those juices that are release from the meat resting & being cut – pour into the sauce and stir in!!!

Serve with your favorite starch and veggies.  I’d stay with the Pinot Noir wine to accompany this dish too – I like Pinots from the Columbia Valleys in Oregon and Washington the best!!!