Ready Time: 1 1/2 hours plus brining time
Wine Pairings: While growing up I lived in dread of two awkward Christmas moments. One was being called upon to say grace (not my parents’ forte). The other was being saddled with carving duties. Turkeys and hams stared suspiciously at me as if to say, “Don’t screw this up, kid.” There I was with a knife longer than my trembling forearm, invariably about to shred the holiday into so much sawdust. Praise to this rack of pork, with its conveniently spaced bones, conspicuous guides for the knife. It’s the roast carver’s equivalent of a carpenter’s mitre box.— Beppi Crosariol
Brine
2 cups apple cider
1/2 cup cider vinegar
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 tsp peppercorns
2 tbsp grated ginger
4 Thai chilies
3 litres (16 cups) water
Pork
1 rack of pork (6 chops)
1 tsp chopped garlic
2 tsp grated lemon rind
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp soy sauce
Sauce
1/2 cup apple cider
2 cups chicken stock
2 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
Method
Combine apple cider and vinegar in a pot with salt, maple syrup, peppercorns, grated ginger and Thai chilies. Bring to boil. Remove from heat and add water. Cool completely. Place pork into brine and brine for 24 hours. Remove from brine, rinse off and pat dry. Discard brine. Refrigerate pork for 2 hours to dry off, then bring back to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 450 F.
Place pork on rack in a roasting pan. Combine garlic, lemon rind, mustard and soy sauce and rub all over pork. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 325 F and roast 1 hour longer or until a thermometer reads 150 F for a pink roast. (The time will vary depending on the thickness of the rack.) Let sit for 15 minutes while making sauce.
To make the sauce, pour fat out of roasting pan and add apple cider. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring up all the little bits on the pan. Boil until it begins to get syrupy, about 6 minutes. Add stock and bring to a boil. Stir in cider vinegar and soy sauce. Turn heat to low and simmer until sauce is slightly thickened about 6 minutes longer.
Carve the rack into chops to serve.
Lucy Waverman