Christmas roast pork loin with spicy red cabbage

by Carsten Kyster and Christian Christensen

Ingredients

For 6

1½ kg pork loin (deboned)
1½ tbsp coarse salt
fresh thyme and oregano

Spicy red cabbage

1 head of red cabbage, 2-3 kg
½ l elderberry juice
1 dl honey
1 onion
1 tsp caraway seeds (if desired)
1 bay leaf
1 tbsp redcurrant jelly
1 tbsp vinegar
3 apples
1 tbsp fat from pork loin

Browned potatoes

¾ kg small potatoes
5 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp butter

Redcurrant sauce

1 orange
3 tbsp redcurrant jelly
1 ½ tbsp port
1 lemon
½ tsp Dijon mustard
pinch paprika
Juice from the meat
Approx. 1¾ hours

Method

Ask the butcher to cut the joint away from the piece of loin, which extends from the tenderloin to the fifth rib – without the bone.
Score the rind at ½ cm intervals, ½-1 cm into the meat. If the butcher has already scored the joint, go over the scoring again as it sometimes isn’t deep enough.
Chop the herbs.
Make sure that the salt and herbs get between the scored rind.

Put the joint on a rack in a small roasting tin so that the rind is as straight as possible. Put some crumpled tinfoil or slices of peeled potatoes under the joint at its thinnest point so that the rind is completely horizontal.

Add ½ l water to the tin and put the joint into the middle of a cold oven. Turn the oven on at 200 degrees and roast for approx. 1½ hours.

For juicy meat and crispy crackling:

Insert a meat thermometer into the middle of the joint.
Check to see if the crackling is crisp when the centre temperature is 55 degrees
If the crackling is crisp: Continue roasting at 200 degrees until the centre temperature is 65 degrees.

If the crackling is not crisp: Turn up the oven to 250 degrees until the centre temperature reaches 65 degrees. Check that the crackling doesn’t become too dark.

Take the joint out of the oven. Skim the fat from the juice.
Finely chop the red cabbage.
Boil the red cabbage in the elderberry juice, honey, sliced onion, caraway seeds (if desired), bay leaf, redcurrant jelly, vinegar, salt and pepper for approx. 1 hour. Add the apples with peel on (cut into wedges) for the last 15 minutes of the cooking time. Taste and add the fat from the roast into the red cabbage just prior to serving.

Boil and peel the potatoes. Pour hot water over the cold potatoes and allow to stand for 5-10 minutes. Pour away the water. Melt the sugar in a pan until light brown. Add the butter and then the potatoes. Reduce the heat so the caramel doesn’t become too dark. If the heat is reduced too much, the caramel will become too stiff and will not stick to the potatoes. Turn the potatoes carefully until they are light brown all over.

Peel ½ orange with a potato peeler. Cut the peel into strips and par boil in water. Pour into a sieve. Add the redcurrant jelly, port, juice of ½ lemon and ½ orange, mustard, paprika and meat juice to taste. Season with salt, pepper and orange peel.