One evening I dropped by to visit my friend Randal Miller who had just pulled a pork roast out of the oven. The delectable aroma greeted me like an airborne welcome mat. My mother used to tell me it was very bad manners to go visiting during the dinner hour but apparently I had forgotten. Randal graciously offered me dinner and it was so delicious I had three helpings. I wanted a fourth but eating like a lumberjack in front of other people is not very ladylike, is it? But lucky for me, Randal sent me home with a doggie bag. The accompaniment to the pork was delicious Spanish rice made from a box of Zatarain’s. Of course I wanted to know how this succulent pork roast came to be. What did he put on it? How had he cooked it? Did he create the recipe? So many questions! Fortunately he had written the recipe down and was happy to share it with me.
A few weeks later I bought a pork roast and followed his instructions after a few telephone calls to clarify things. The simplicity thrilled me. First he made a spice rub. I was instructed to really rub it in, not just sprinkle it on like wispy fairy dust. Next, shower the roast with Wright’s liquid smoke. Randal informed me there is a proper technique for sprinkling on liquid smoke. The bottle doesn’t come with a plastic fitting that allows a person to sprinkle so you have to put your finger halfway over the opening to regulate the amount that comes out. Next, generously coat the roast with honey then slow cook it in the oven.
Savory Pork Roast
½ cup brown sugar
1 heaping tsp cumin
1 heaping tsp garlic powder
1 tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp black pepper
Couple of teaspoons liquid smoke
⅓ cup honey
Massage the rub into the pork, sprinkle with liquid smoke then coat with honey. Refrigerate overnight or for at least several hours. Bake at 300⁰ for a couple of hours until a meat thermometer reads 170⁰.
The roast we made weighed several pounds and the first night we ate it with mashed potatoes that cradled the drippings. I mash my potatoes with lots of cream and butter, salt and pepper then add generous amounts of chopped green onions and fresh parsley. There were a lot of leftovers so the second night we chopped the roast into cubes and made burritos along with refried beans and the boxed Spanish rice. The third night we thinly sliced the roast and served it with homemade barbeque sauce and hamburger buns. You could use this recipe with any kind of pork. Thank you Randal for this recipe!
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