I'm attending a Christmas party this upcoming Saturday, and traditionally for this party, I make a pork roast (or two, depending on the number of people coming). My usual pork roast M.O. is to roll it in spices, sear it, then let it simmer in a crock pot for 2.5 hours with apple cider until it's tender. I decided this year to try butterflying and stuffing the pork roasts, and did the trial run this week to see if I could do it.
Ingredients
- pork roast (I used a shoulder for this experiment, but I intend on using a pork roast or loin for the actual meal)
- 1 box or bag of stuffing
- rosemary
- thyme
- salt
- ground peppercorns
- sage
- onion salt
- basil
- oregano
- kitchen twine
Optional: If you acquire the roast far enough in advance, you may wish to freeze it. I always season the roast, then wrap it well in clear plastic cling wrap. It's a good idea to at least chill the roast well before you butterfly it, so it slices easier.
Lay the roast out on a carving board. You want to use a very sharp, strong carving knife for butterflying.
Make a long cut to the side of the roast, slicing it all the way down, and pulling the top free from the bottom, like you're opening a book.
While you're doing the butterflying, you can make the stuffing on the stove. For the trial run, I made Stove Top, which was saltier than I like a stuffing to be, so I'll be using a different brand next time.
When the stuffing is done, spread it out on the open roast. Pat it down so it's spread relatively thinly.
Carefully roll up the roast like a jelly roll. Secure with kitchen twine.
(Mistakes made: I definitely spread the stuffing out too close to the edges. You should leave at least half an inch space between the stuffing and the edges of the roast, to avoid spillage like this.)
Place roast in a shallow baking pan and bake in the oven for about 1 hr, 10 minutes.
Slice and enjoy. Gratuitous slicing shot:
I made baked potatoes and corn with the meal, but you can do almost any sides you want.
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