Thursday, December 30, 2010

Weekend Cook: Crown Roast of Pork

Smoked Pork Chop with Sausage Dressing
All I had to bring to the Boucher Family Christmas this year was the crown roast, dressing and gravy.

Crown Roast of Pork
The roast went into the Big Green Egg at 300f for about 2 hours, until the thermometer read 148f internal.  Dan said his pork chop was dry, but mine (see the photo above) was not.

Pork Sausage Dressing
The dressing was easy.  I fried a pound of bulk hot Italian pork sausage with a large grated onion.  I reconstituted 1 ounce of dried portabellas in 1 1/2 cups of water, drained the mushrooms (reserving the water) and put them in the food chopper with: 6 cloves of garlic, 1 tsp of fresh thyme, 1 tsp dried sage, 1 TB fresh parsley.  I added the mixture to the still cooking sausage.

When cooked through, I removed it to a bowl and added about two cups of Potato Buds alternately with a 1/2 pint of heavy cream and the mushroom water.  I kept adjusting until I had the right consistency and proportion of meat/potatoes for dressing.  Using Buds is a time/labor savor, and assures that the dressing is smooth.  I adjusted the salt and reheated in a 300f oven for about 40 minutes before packing it in the car and traveling down the road to grandmas house.