Instead of doing a turkey this year, why not try your hand at creating a beautiful crown roast or either pork or lamb?

Having your butcher do it is costly but you can do it yourself and really get all the “Oohs and Ahhs!” from everyone who comes to your table.

The procedure is simple; you can watch how it is done in the Charlotte Cooks episode of “Holiday Meals”.

Grab your bone in pork loin and cook along with the video.

Enjoy!

For a pork crown roast, ask your butcher for a “Frenched” bone in pork loin. You may need to order it so check before you just expect the cut of meat to be in the butchers window. This is a big piece of meat so you will only need 1.

For the lamb, you will need to purchase 2 lamb racks for each crown roast. When buying lamb, keep in mind that the gamier tastes typically come from New Zealand and Australian while American lamb has a milder taste.

I love lamb no matter where it comes from.

When serving lamb, please leave the mint jelly alone! There is a nice condiment you can make with mint that is much nicer.

Mint Sauce

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 8 ounces rice wine vinegar unseasoned
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup chopped fresh mint leaves

Place the sugar in the bottom of a saucepan and melt over medium heat. Do not stir while the sugar is melting, just let it melt.

The sugar will melt into a warm caramel. When it is golden brown, carefully pour in all of the vinegar at once.

Be careful as this will spit and spatter!

The sugar will sieze but as the vinegar warms and comes to a boil, the sugar will re-melt.

Add the chopped mint and salt and simmer for 5 minutes.

Spoon over your lamb as desired. This can be served warm or cold.

Store the sauce in the refrigerator, if there is any left.

In culinary terms what you have just made is a “mint gastrique“.

The flavor of the sauce is complex and fresh thanks to the gastrique.

A gastrique is part of an arsenal of skills to use in great sauce making.

This is worth learning.

I hope you all try your hand at a crown roast of pork or lamb sometime this season.

It will surely impress all your family and friends!

Please let me know if you have questions.

You can find all recipes from Charlotte Cooks TV shows by following the highlighted link.

Related articles

• The Lost Art of Buying From a Butcher (nytimes.com)
• My succulent roast lamb shoulder (garydavidlum.com)