From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I made a last minute change to our dinner menu on Thanksgiving Day. I originally planned to do a cider brined pork loin, but as the various elements of the supper came together I realized I didn't have the room to store or bake the apples that make the dish so special. Fortunately, pork is very forgiving, so I decided to go with a recipe for a fennel and sage rubbed loin that first appeared in Sunset magazine over a decade ago. Pork roasted in this manner is delicious, but I have a couple of suggestions to share with those of you who are adventurous enough to give this very simple recipe a try. I marinate pork roasts for at least 8 hours in a salt and sugar brine to assure the meat remains moist as it bakes. I've included instructions for making the brine with tonight's post, should you want to give it a try. I know from experience that it will enormously improve the taste and texture of the pork and guarantee a moist roast. I highly recommend brining the loin prior to roasting. My other suggestion has to do with cooking time. My family likes their pork moist and pink, so I always cook it to 140 degrees and then remove it from the oven. I have found that the 2-1/4 hours recommended in this recipe will produce a dry roast. In order to avoid that, I begin to check the interior temperature of the meat when it has been in the oven for 1-3/4 hours. I strongly recommend you use a meat thermometer and pull the roast from the oven when its interior temperature reaches 140 degrees. My holiday roast was a 6 pound double loin and it was ready in less than 2 hours. It is also important to tent the roast with foil and let it sit for 15 minutes before carving. The drippings from this roast are delicious, but they are not copious enough to make a gravy, so don't plan on serving gravy dependent sides with the roast. The rub for this roast has attitude and it will not appeal to peckish eaters, but those who love well seasoned meat will be in the foodie version of 7th heaven. Here is how the roast is made.
