braising a boneless 7-rib pork roast

I had a 7-rib boneless pork roast – 2.35 lb – in my freezer. I got it for a great sale price and usually slice this cut into “country style ribs” and do the barbecue thing. But, I wanted to do something different. It is a relatively fatty cut of meat, so, unlike the leaner pork cuts, it should do well with braising.

I found a braised pork chop recipe at

https://justbraise.blogspot.com/2006/10/braised-pork-chops-w-apples.html (sorry, no time to create and actual link!)

And – am going from there. First, the recipe calls for bone-in chops. I like using bone-in cuts for the extra flavor from the bone, but that’s not what I had on hand. I cut up the roast into 9 chunks, covered them with the rub (doubled the recipe amounts of spices) and seared them in just olive oil. I have a 6 Qt dutch oven (Mario’s) and it all fit in one batch.

I didn’t have rum and forgot to buy cider, so I used 1 and 1/4 cup of IPA beer and two tablespoons of rice syrup and added a bit of water to make 1 1/2 cups liquid. I was going to use molasses (since rum is made from molasses and sugar cane) but thought the flavor might be too strong. But I wanted something sugary and sticky in there. Could have used barley malt, but went with the rice syrup.

I decided to slice and onion up in there, too, and added that with four sliced Cortland apples. I am now wishing that, after de-glazing with a bit of the liquid after removing the seared pork, that I had caramelized the onions before adding the apples and the rest of the liquid. I’ll try that next time.

I just checked the concoction after 10-12 minutes in the oven at 350 and the pork is sooooo tender! Too much liquid in there, though. I may remove the liquid and reduce it a bit. AND, next time, I’ll go get a shot of rum for this. I bet the flavor is amazing. But, this smells and tastes good – although, let me try reducing and playing with it a bit before I serve it tonight. 🙂

I am serving with mashed yam, to compliment the sweetness, and steamed swiss chard to add a slight bitter contrast. Okay, time to go finish this experiment and see how this all works out.

…Just took out about 3/4 cup of liquid and added some cornstarch to thicken and added back in, along with salt and pepper…next time, I will use stock instead of beer if I don’t have rum. But, it still tastes good. Now, to serve dinner.