Crown Roast of Pork Dinner

Crown Roast of Pork Dinner – I started writing this blog to show how cooking can be easy and fun, especially for non or reluctant cooks. This post will not be that. It will showcase a recent dinner party we had with friends, that featured a Crown Roast of Pork, with Wild Rice Stuffing. It’s not a terribly hard recipe, just labor-intensive and not a 30-minute weekday meal.

We used to serve a Crown Roast during the holidays when we lived in Cincinnati. Since we moved to Milwaukee 8 years ago, my wife will ask what we should have for dinner, and my traditional response has been “Crown Roast of Pork”. It got a laugh and she said, “No really, what should we have for dinner?”

Finally, in preparation for our dinner party last week, she asked, “What should we serve?”. I gave my standard “Crown Roast of Pork” answer, to which she smiled and said, “Let’s do it!”

How to Cook a Crown Roast of Pork

Go to your butcher and have them prepare the Roast. Tell the Butcher how many people you are serving for dinner. Estimate about 1.5 Chops per person and the butcher will do the hard work of trimming the ribs, tying the ribs together, and giving it to you ready for cooking.
Marinate and brine the roast the day before (at least 24 hours prior)
Soak about a dozen dried prunes in cognac (at least 24 hours prior)
Prepare the Wild Rice stuffing (recipe below). Can be done same day
Cook the roast with the Wild Rice Stuffing (recipe below)
Prepare and cook the vegetables (recipes below)
Assemble the roast & veggies and serve to your guests.

Salt Marinade/Dry Brine Crown Roast (per lb. of Meat)

2 teaspoons kosher salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon each of sage, thyme, and bay leaf
Pinch of allspice
1 garlic clove mashed

The day before serving, rub the salt marinade/brine into the meat, put it in a large bowl, cover, and refrigerate. Turn the meat every three hours or so.

Soak the prunes in cognac. This should sit overnight in the fridge, also. Bring to room temperature before cooking in Wild Rice Stuffing.

Wild Rice Stuffing-

2 small onions or shallots, minced
Two carrots diced
2 small stalks celery, diced
2 tablespoons diced mushrooms
4 tablespoons of butter
1 teaspoon thyme
1 tablespoon sage
Salt and pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
2 cups wild rice & long grain white rice
Spice mix – Parsley, Garlic Powder, Salt, Onion Powder, Natural Smoke Flavor, Turmeric, Paprika
3 ½ cups boiling water/ chicken stock combination

To make the stuffing, sauté the vegetables in butter for 10 minutes, in a heavy large pot (that has a cover). Add the herbs, rice, spice mix, and boiling water/stock. Cover and cook for about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally to stop any sticking to the pan. Test for seasoning. Let the rice cool before stuffing the Roast.

Cooking the Crown Roast –

There are a couple of ways to cook a crown roast. I opted for the quicker method, which is very high heat to start and moderate temperature until the meat is cooked through. You will need the following ingredients for roasting – 4 tablespoons of butter and/or oil, 1 onion, thinly sliced, 2 carrots chopped, 4 cloves of garlic, and fresh thyme.

Pre-heat oven to 450
Rub all of the marinade off of the roast and pat dry with paper towels
In your large roasting pan, sauté the onions, carrots, garlic, and thyme in the butter and/or oil, for about 8-10 minutes, until soft
Put roast in pan, and fill the center with wild rice stuffing
Top the stuffing with the prunes
(Optional- cover each exposed rib bone tip with Aluminum Foil, to stop it from burning)
Roast for 20 minutes at 450
Turn heat down to 350 and roast approximately 1.5 to 2 hours longer (Check the internal temp of the roast every 30 minutes or so)
Using a meat thermometer between the bones, measure the internal temp. Take out when the temperature reaches 145 degrees.
Let the roast rest for 10-15 minutes.
Veggies – should be cooked ahead of time and warmed as the roast finishes cooking

Carrots – are best if roasted. For this dish, better to use whole carrots. Using a vegetable peeler, remove a thin layer of skin. When it comes down to it, you don’t ever really have to peel carrots when they are roasted. As long as you wash and scrub them well to remove dirt, unpeeled carrots are perfectly safe (and delicious) to eat. Place in 425° oven, with Olive Oil & salt, and roast for 30 minutes
Green Beans – Prepare an ice bath for the beans. Trim the ends of the green beans. If possible, cut the beans into more manageable sizes for eating, after they are trimmed. It also makes the presentation better. After you have prepped the beans, steam them for 3 minutes in a steamer. (you can also par-cook them in boiling water, you will get the same result). Remove them from the steamer and immediately plunge into the ice bath. They will keep their bright green color and retain most of their crunch.

Brussels Sprouts – Trim the end of the Brussels sprouts, Preheat oven to 425°. On a large baking sheet, drizzle Brussels sprouts with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Toss until combined. Roast until the Brussels sprouts are crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, about 25 minutes, shaking the pan halfway thru.

Shallots – Peel the shallots and roast whole. Use the same 425° oven and roast for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of the shallots.

Cover all of the cooked vegetables with aluminum foil (in separate pans if possible). If you only have one oven, you can put the veggies back in the oven when the Roast comes out to rest.

7 . Assemble the roast & veggies and serve to your guests.

After the roast has rested, transfer to a large round serving platter (may need two sets of hands to transfer) and assemble cooked veggies (see below) around the roast
When serving the Roast, place some of each veggie on the platter and the remainder can be passed in a separate bowl.

Cooking Secrets for Men

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If you liked our recipe for Crown Roast of Pork you should try our recipe for Healthy Salad for Carnivores or maybe Roasted Fruit with Pork or Chicken.

Cooking Secrets for Men in the News

This is a feature in “Milwaukee Magazine” May 2023 edition, called “Civic Gastronomy”. Here is the link – https://www.milwaukeemag.com/this-cooking-show-features-milwaukee-community-leaders/.

Then a few days later, they were discussing me on the radio. It is a local Foodie show – “This Bites”, where my series “Cooking with Milwaukee Community Leaders” is discussed (it’s in the first few minutes of the show) https://radiomilwaukee.org/podcast/this-bites/2023-05-26/milwaukee-celebrity-cooking-show.

“Cooking Secrets for Men” is listed as one of the Top 30 Men’s Cooking Websites on the Internet. You can read that article here. See where we rank for Men’s Cooking Websites.

Shepherd Express (Milwaukee) article on our Cooking with Milwaukee Community Leaders show – you can read that article here.

Good Counsel HS (My Alma Mater) Magazine article about Cooking Secrets for Men, You can read that article here.

Meet Charlie DeSando – “Voyage Tampa” article, which you can read here.

CanvasRebel Magazine Interview, which you can read here.