Peppered Molasses Pork Roast

Print Recipe

As most of you know, I love combining new spice and herb blends in my recipes.  I love taking chances and seeing just what a new flavor combination will produce.  Sometimes I like to just go pick a handful of herbs out of the garden and mix with some flavored oils or spices to set my taste buds to spinning.

There are times though when I don’t like to mess with the true tastes of my food.  For instance, when I can hand pick a green bean or pea out of the garden and pop it into my mouth I want to taste the fresh natural sweetness of these garden gems.  Picked fresh out of the garden they are full of natural sweetness before the sugars have begun to turn to starch.  There is no amount of seasoning that can bring back that beautiful taste once they have lost their just picked freshness.

I feel the same way about my proteins as well.  Most of the time it is only a bit of salt and pepper that is needed to help coax out the natural flavors of the meat.  I don’t know how many times I have sat down at a restaurant to have a steak and the wait staff asked me if I wanted steak sauce.   Of course the first thing out of my mouth is usually, “if it needs a steak sauce, it can’t be good enough for me to want to eat”.  Now don’t get me wrong, sometimes I love a mushroom wine sauce or finishing butter to top my steak, but I more enjoy the delicious taste of a perfectly prepared and salted steak.

So tonight I decided to add very little to a beautiful pork roast I found in the butchers case.  Now looking back,  I always loved the fried apples mom used to make with our pork dinners.  The sweetness of the apples and brown sugar always perfectly complimented the pork.  That’s how I came up with the recipe for my pork roast tonight.  Just a bit of salt, a bunch of pepper, and a bit of flavor from molasses.  I am telling you.  This roast was so flavorful on the outside from this combination and moist and naturally delicious on the inside.  Y’all have to give this recipe a try, and also try some minimal spices and sauces on your meats.  A good piece of meat needs very little to shine.

Ingredients:

• 1  boneless pork loin roast (4-5 lb.)
• 2 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• Salt (to taste)
• 1/2  teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/3 cup molasses

Directions:

1. Combine pepper, salt, garlic powder and ginger in small bowl.
2. Rub seasoning mixture all over the pork roast.
3. Heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat (cast iron skillet is my choice). Place roast in pan and brown, turning every 2 to 3 minutes, until browned on all sides.  Remove pan from heat and  pour the molasses over the roast and turn roast to coat in molasses. I like to surround with halved fingerling potatoes and onions to cook in the juices from the pork.
4. Place skillet in a 350°F oven and cook until center of roast registers 140°F on an instant read thermometer.  This should take about 40 to 50 minutes, while basting with pan juices once or twice during roasting.
5. Transfer roast to a cutting board and tent with foil and let rest for 10-15 minutes.