Food & Wine USA - (11)November 2018

stir until ice melts and brine is

cool. Add pork, cover, and chill at

least 12 hours or up to 24 hours.

2. Remove pork from brine; dis-
   card brine. Pat pork dry with
   paper towels. Place pork, bone
   side down, on a wire rack set
   inside a roasting pan, and chill,
   uncovered, at least 4 hours and
   up to 12 hours.


3. Preheat oven to 250°F. Let
   pork stand at room temperature
   30 minutes. Roast pork until
   browned and a thermometer
   inserted in thickest portion regis-
   ters 135°F, 1 hour and 30 minutes
   to 2 hours. Remove from oven,
   and let pork rest 30 minutes.
   (Temperature will increase as
   pork rests.) Increase oven tem-
   perature to 450°F.


4. Make the glaze: Stir together
   miso, honey, and vinegar in a
   small bowl. Brush glaze over pork.
   Return pork to oven, and roast
   at 450°F until fat cap crisps and
   glaze begins to bubble and turn
   golden brown, about 10 minutes.


5. Let pork stand 5 minutes; carve
   between bones into 6 chops.
   WINE Earthy, peppery Syrah:
   2015 Paul Jaboulet Aîné Crozes-
   Hermitage Les Jalets
   TRY THIS METHOD WITH chicken
   leg quarters or rabbit legs.

ACTIVE 1 HR 30 MIN; TOTAL 19 HR
45 MIN; SERVES 6

BRINE

6 cups water

2 sheets kombu (about 1 oz.)

2 cups packed bonito flakes
(about 1 oz.)

1 /^2 cup Diamond Crystal
kosher salt

4 cups ice

1 /^4 cup honey

2 Tbsp. cracked black pepper

1 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar

1 (5-lb.) bone-in 6-rib pork
loin roast, frenched, fat
cap scored

GLAZE

2 Tbsp. white miso

2 Tbsp. honey

1 Tbsp. rice wine vinegar

1. Make the brine: Combine
   water and kombu in a large pot,
   and let stand until kombu is pli-
   able, about 15 minutes. Cook
   over high just until steaming,
   about 8 minutes. Remove from
   heat. Stir in bonito flakes and
   salt; let stand 15 minutes. Pour
   through a fine wire-mesh strainer
   into a nonreactive food-safe con-
   tainer large enough to hold pork;
   discard solids. Add ice, honey,
   black pepper, and vinegar, and

CRACKLING PORK LOIN

A

crispy, lacquered bone-in rack of pork is a show-

stopping roast. It requires a long cook time to fully

render the fat cap and cook the thick cut all the way

through—a stint that can dry it out or toughen it if you’re not
careful. Pre-seasoning the pork in wet brine laced with kombu
and bonito flakes helps to keep the meat—especially the lean loin

found at the center of the cut—succulent and tender, while lending
a delicate, smoky flavor to the pork. Resting the meat fully before a
final miso glaze and ripping-hot oven sear delivers super-juicy

meat and a sizzling seasoned crust.

THE CUT

Bone-in rack of pork

THE TIME

12 to 24 hours in wet

brine, plus 4 to 12

hours of air-drying

THE RATIO

Master brine of 6%,

with salt amount

adjusted for kombu

and bonito flakes