Roast pork with cranberry wine reduction sauce

I'm not about to get into the "sauce"/"gravy" wars rhetoric here, but the "sauce" for this roast (some would call it gravy) is to die for, or so I've been told many times.

Yesterday, Alan's brother David, and his wife, Libby, came for an overnight stay and I thought I'd make something that I do well, and from which we really enjoy any leftovers -- pork loin roast. I had my shopper get one at the Kroger Butcher shop. It was four pound roast. Pretty big.

I marinated for about 4 hours in a concoction of seasoned salt (1 tablespoon), garlic salt (1 tablespoon), 1/2 cup huckleberry vinegar (you can use raspberry vinegar instead), and 1/4 cup olive oil.

When I thought it was time to put it in the oven (I allowed 2 hours for the roast at 350 degrees) I first braised it on all sides. I set that pan aside for the cranberry wine reduction.

I put the roast in a pan over one bulb of garlic halved. I didn't do anything else but just cut the bulb in half cross-wise, not between the cloves. And I placed the roast on top of this. This was to make the "gravy" more tasty.

After 1-1/2 hours I poured 1 cup of water over the roast to add to the pan drippings. Then after two hours I removed the roast from the oven and let it rest for 20 minutes before cutting into it.

NOW FOR THE SAUCE: I used the pan drippings from when I braised the roast and poured a whole bottle of cranberry wine in this pan and added one pat of butter, then I simmered it for the two hours while the roast cook. It was reduced by about one-half, and it was delicious instead of "gravy."

However, I also made gravy from the pan drippings that the roast in the oven made. Remember I had poured one cup of water over the roast? Well I added another cup of water to that, and brought that to a boil. I used a whisk to get any roast remnants from the pan. Then I added cornstarch to thicken it.

When I use cornstarch to thicken I used equal parts cornstarch and water which is stirred to mix and no lumps, whisk the mixture in, slowly, and when it starts to thicken, I stop pouring the cornstarch and water. I usually use 1/2 cup water, but rarely use the whole 1/2 cup of the mixture. I guess I waste a bit of cornstarch, but hey, it's cheap, and I'd rather than too much thickener than not enough.

That's how you make my favorite pork roast.

We had no leftovers, but if we had, I would have make pork roast soup, which is the same as my vegetable soup, but I use pork instead of beef. Good stuff.