French Style Pork Loin Pot Roast

This is one of my favorite Recipes from America's Test Kitchen.  I've made quite a few times and always have some trouble finding it so I thought I'd capture it here for posterity.

This recipe uses a fairly elaborate process to make a pretty boring and unflavorful cut of meet (a pork loin) rich and delicious.  Note, I said pork loin which is different than a pork tenderloin.  It is a cut with a fat cap but very little intermuscular fat.  Apparently a French Pork Loin has a bit more fat.  To try to approximate a French grown pork loin this recipe butterflies the roast which sort of unrolls a log shaped roast down down to a thin flat piece of meat, adds butter to increase the richness, and then rolls it back up into the log shape.  This also allows for more surface area for seasoning the meat.  It is a really great technique.

The recipe also focuses on a spice I haven't encountered much but which is really excellent:  Herbs de Provence.  They provide an amazing aroma and flavor that really go nicely with the pork, onions, apples and garlic which make up the rest of the recipe and really enhance the cooking process while they fill the kitchen with the wonderful smell.

As you'll see below, the process is complicated but it's worth the effort.  There are a few challenging steps but for the most part it's just waiting for it to slowly cook that is difficult.  It's a great meal that nig

Ingredients:

• 2.5 lbs Center Cut Pork Loin

• 6 Cloves of Garlic
• 2 tbs Butter
• 1 tbs salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp Herbs de Provence
• 2 tbs Olive Oil
• 1 Granny Smith Apple Pealed Cored and cut into 1/4 in pieces
• 1 Onion chopped fine
• 2 tsp thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/3 cups of Sauvignon Blanc
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 1 tbs unflavored gelatin

Process Details:

• 1/22/23:
• Pre-heated the oven to 225 F and set the rack to the lower middle position
• Sliced the garlic thin and put about three cloves worth in a pan on medium-low with 1 tbs of butter.  Cooked this until golden brown.  Once at this stage I poured the garlic and butter to a small bowl which I moved to the fridge to solidify

• With the fat side up I butterflied the pork roast out to a flat piece.  I started 1/3rd of the way up from the bottom, sliced through, parallel to the cutting board, until about an inch from the other side of the roast and then cut the remaining 2/3 side of the roast roughly in half so that it was unrolled (or unfolded like a business letter).  It doesn't need to be perfect but don't slice all the way through the meat

• I then pounded the meat to an even thickness

• Then applied 1/2 tsp of salt to both sides of the meat, 1 tsp of sugar to the inside (side without the fat), and then the garlic and butter mixture to the inside

• The meat is then rolled up  and tied with kitchen twine spaced about 1 in apart

• Herbs de Provence are sprinkle on all sides of the roast at this point

• I then heated 1 tbs of oil in my Dutch oven on medium heat and cooked the roast on the fat side and the two sides until they were each brown (the roast will sit on the bottom during the long slow roasting step so it doesn't need to be browned separately.  Remove the roast to a separate plate after the browning

• Chopped the apple and onion

• Add an additional 1 tbs of oil to the Dutch oven and then cook the onion and apple until the onion is softened (5 min or so).  Then add the garlic and cook for 30 s.  Then stir in the wine thyme and bay leaf

• Added the roast back onto the pot, covered with foil and the lid (to try to better retain moisture) and put into the oven.  Cooked until the meat registered 140 F which took about an hr

• Once cooking complete I set the roast aside tented to rest for 20 min

• Removed the bay leaf from the pot
• To make a sauce I rehydrated the gelatin in chicken stock and then added to the pot along with 1 tbs of butter.  Simmered over medium heat during this.  Added salt and pepper to the sauce for taste

• Sliced the meat and served with a generous helping of the sauce