Tender...

A few months ago A and I took the children to spend the afternoon with my cousin and her family. We had THE MOST DIVINE pork roast I have ever had. I love pork roast. I grew up eating pork roast baked in the oven and loving it. This was, however, the most tender roast I have ever eaten. Hands down. And it was cooked in the Crock Pot. Her secret? Milk. It also turns out that Martha (yes, THE MARTHA) knows a thing or two about cooking too...

Turns out that not only does Milk do a body good (pass it on...), it also does a Pork Roast good. It's not something that I would ordinarily think of as a tenderizer - and I'm not sure how it works. I do know, however, that it's one of two ways that I'll cook my pork from here on out! (The other way is Cafe Rio way, but that's for another post at another time...) Now - I have to add here that I don't cook my pork roast in the crock pot. Ever. It's way too dry for me, and there are few things worse than a dry roast...

Tonight, I cooked the same tender roast - albeit with a different flavor - this was my first time cooking pork in milk, after all - as my cousin did. A informed me that I should NEVER, and I mean NEVER cook a pork roast in the crock pot any other way (unless it was Cafe Rio way...).

How? Well... first, I should have seared my roast in a cast iron pan in olive oil and butter with some kosher salt and pepper. But I didn't. Next time, I will. Instead, today, I just put the roast into a small crock pot (it wasn't a big roast), sprinkled a package of pork gravy mix on top, and added 3 cups of whole milk. Personally, I don't think the pig cared if it was whole milk or 2% - but I had whole on hand, so used it. And then, I turned the pot to low and let it do its magic for 5 hours. Then... I turned the roast to high, and let it continue to cook for another 1.5 hours. It was tasty. Very Tasty.

Next time... I'll take a photo, use the drippings from the roast to make gravy, and see how well that works. I'll probably also use Martha's recipe as follows:

This delicious recipe is courtesy of Stephane Reynaud and can be found in his cookbook "Pork and Sons."

• YieldServes 6

Ingredients

• 1 Boston butt (3 1/4 pounds)
• 8 3/4 cups milk
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 sprig fresh thyme
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary
• 2 dried bay leaves

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place pork in a large Dutch-oven. Add milk, garlic, thyme, rosemary, and bay leaves. Cover, and transfer to oven. Cook until milk comes to a boil, about 45 minutes. Uncover and continue cooking until milk is evaporated, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

   Discard herbs and serve pork hot or cold with milk sauce.

ENJOY!