How to Roast Pork Perfumed with Pears and Fennel
Tasty Alternative to Sunday Roast Beef or Pot Roast
May 9, 2008
The popularity of serving applesauce with pork chops is one example of how pork is often paired with sweet or fruity flavors. Fennel is a common ingredient in French cuisine. Fennel’s mild hint of anise or licorice flavor mellows further with the slow cooking buddied up with shallots and pears.
Pork Roast Perfumed with Pears and Fennel
Serves 4 to 6
You will need:an oven proof casserole or roasting pan large enough to hold the meat. Ideally the pan will have a lid, but foil will suffice.
See below for two handy but non-crucial gadgets that will make this simple recipe even easier: a spice grinder and a gravy degreaser.
- 3 to 4 lb. pork butt, well trimmed
- 4 cloves garlic, slivered
- 1 large bulb fennel, coarsely chopped (about 1½ cups)
- 3 shallots, minced
- 3 ripe pears, peeled, cored, and diced
- 1/4 cup dry sherry
- 1/4 cup chicken stock
- 1 Tbsp fennel seeds, chopped
- 1 1/2 tsp sea salt (or table salt)
- 3/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- With a thin-bladed knife, poke holes all over the meat and insert a sliver of garlic into each hole.
- Stir together the fennel, shallots, pears, sherry and chicken stock in the roasting pan.
- Put the meat in the pan. Sprinkle the chopped fennel seeds over the surface of the meat and press it into the flesh. Repeat the process with the sea salt and pepper.
- Cover and roast until the juices run clear, 3 1/2 to 4 hours. If in doubt use an instant-read thermometer to check that the internal temperature of the pork has reached XX°.
- Remove the pan from the oven and let it rest ten minutes.
- Remove the roast and slice it thickly.
- Remove the fennel and pear chunks from the pan with a slotted spoon and reserve. Degrease the pan juices if necessary.
About Spice Grinders:
Why grind spice? Most any spice you can name can be purchased already ground. Once ground, though, spices and herbs begin to oxidize and go stale. Not convinced? If you have a pepper grinder, do you also have a tin of ground black pepper in the cupboard? Taste them side by side. The best case for the fullest flavor is when you use spices or herbs immediately after grinding. A spare electric coffee grinder, or a hand pepper grinder can serve as a spice grinder. The electric coffee grinder is usually easier to wipe out between uses, or you may find it useful to have several small dedicated grinders for herbs or spices that you grind frequently. A small mortar and pestle will also work, especially where a coarser grind is desirable.
About Gravy De-Greasers
Skimming the fat off a sauce has always been a messy challenge until some clever person invented the sauce-degreaser. It looks like a little pitcher except that the spout comes up from the bottom. Grease rises to the top, so you can pour off the pan juices and leave the fat behind.
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