Being on a budget, I often scan the Sunday ads for grocery deals to help plan out the week's menu. By the time I made it to the grocery store on Monday night, though, the vast majority of decently priced cuts of meat were gone. After some snooping I found a small pork loin for roasting. I've never made a roast without adult supervision so I did some research in my favorite cookbook (The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook) to get a general idea of the process (brine, brown, roast), then went to town! I was rewarded with a juicy, flavorful roast that went great with one of my favorite sides, sweet potato fries.
Please note, this recipe and process worked well with a 1 1/2 lb. pork roast. If your roast is bigger or smaller, you may need to adjust times and amounts appropriately!
INGREDIENTS
Brine -- recipe adapted from America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
- 4 cups (1 quart) water
- 1/8 cup sugar
- 1/8 cup salt
- 1 1/2 lb. pork loin roast (not tenderloin!)
- 1/2 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup honey
- juice from 2 medium sized limes
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp chili powder
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- Place ingredients for brine in a bowl, mix until sugar and salt have dissolved.
- Add roast to brine, cover, and allow to rest in refrigerator for 45min-1hr.
- Remove roast from brine, rinse, and pat dry. Allow roast to come to room temperature. (this should take 30-40 min, depending on how warm your kitchen is)
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet until shimmering. While the oil is being heated, rub pork with salt and pepper.
- Brown all sides of the pork. The goal is to give it some color and flavor, not cook it all the way through, so the entire browning should only take about 10 minutes.
- If your skillet is oven-safe (i.e. no plastic handles), the roast can be placed directly in the oven. If your skillet isn't oven-safe, place the roast in a baking dish, then move to the oven.
- Mix the glaze ingredients and set aside for later.
- Roast for the porkfor 25 minutes, then flip the roast and bake for another 10 minutes. Pour half the glaze over the roast. As the glaze starts to caramelize on the bottom of the pan, spoon it back over the top of the roast to coat.
- Roast for another 10 minutes, then pour the rest of the glaze over the top of the roast. As the glaze bubbles in the bottom of the pan, spoon it over the top of the roast.
- Remove the roast to a carving board and allow it to rest for 10 minutes. This is an important step that lets the pork continue cooking internally, so don't skip it!
- Slice the pork across the grain and serve.
