A 'Cows- Celebre' & Crown Roast of Pork

First: On Tuesday I was busy co-hosting the Standards of Excellence NARI Meeting at the Hudson Street Designs. What a great venue! Thanks go out to our caterer Chef Ron Duben for such remarkable food, and to generous Greg King from Electrolux for the raffle prize of the Electrolux Beverage Center! The NARI Holiday party was a GREAT success.

Now, about That Roast ….

Scene One: A misty morning silver and sage tinted drive past still sleepy neighborhoods, up the hill by George Lucas’ Big Rock Ranch with a dip down the hill to pass Skywalker Ranch. The scene changes to a dark, fragrant tunnel of majestic redwood trees, winding for miles, cut through with streaming beams of morning sun to suddenly burst forth into the light of horse pastures with rolling hills and lakes, as I keep driving on to my destination; the Fork Culinary Center at Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese, purveyors of the beloved, world class, multi-award winning Point Reyes Original Blue Cheese, Toma, Mozzarella and more.

Scene Two: A shiny commercial kitchen and a soaring event room overlooking a patio filled with native flowers and Kelly green grasses, the famed cows of Point Reyes Farmstead looking down from the hill, lowing in approval as they look out over the expansive bay and rolling hills, a million dollar view for the celebrated cows that make culinary gold…

The prep began with a rocking Crown Roast of Pork, expertly cut, Frenched (bones cleaned) and tied by the brothers Roy and R.J. Cecchini, of their family owned Rocky’s Quality Meats (San Rafael). They will go over how much you need and even give you the frill bone covers for after the cooking!

 A few details about a crown roast:

1. Bring the whole roast out of the fridge at least an hour prior to cooking to reduce the chill.
2. Use your oven on convection settings if you have them, 350°F Convection or 375°F non-convection, with roasts you do not need to pre-heat. (Easier for the next step.)
3. If you oven has a PROBE, use it! If you are stuffing the roast, reach over the top of the crown and place the probe at an angle into the meat to get a read of the center of the meat, towards the back. When stuffing the roast, that is the area that cooks last. If you do not stuff, do as instructed and place a large ball of foil into the center and aim your angled probe a bit more to the middle of the roast, rather than towards the back.
4. Set your probe to 150°F or look for that in your insta-read thermometer when you check it periodically.
5. Cover the rice well with foil and then cover the bones with more foil. With the rice filling, we decided it did not need to be uncovered at the end. With bread stuffing, I would do so for browning.
6. After cooking, REST the roast, very lightly covered in foil for at least 30 minutes.  This allows the roast to finish cooking and for the juices to re-distribute into the meat. If you are not sure, make a small cut in the inside to see into the center of the meat, it should still have a slight pink sheen (it will cook as it rests!). This is a VERY high- quality, tender roast, so do not overcook it. Test this method out with a pork loin before you do the whole roast if you like.

Recipes from the Holiday Event at the Point Reyes:

• The Crown Roast of Pork
• The Jeweled Mixed Grain Stuffing
• The Roasted Squash Halves filled with Herbed Vegetables
• The Mixed Greens with Blood Orange- Hazelnut Vinaigrette
• The Roasted Garlic & Point Reyes Original Blue Cream
• Fresh Ginger Cake with Citrus Cream

Stay tuned for this week’s Food for Thought in Reno photo gallery and recipes & Holiday Crepe Escape event details and recipes. As always, find me on Facebook.

~ Chef Rachelle