Rack of Pork Arista

The story behind the name of this recipe takes us to Florence, Italy (one of my favorite places) to a meeting of Greek and Roman dignitaries.  They were served a dish of roasted pork which was heavily seasoned with cloves, herbs, pepper, and garlic and the dignitaries were heard to murmur "Arista, arista" which translates to "this is terrific, the best!" 

I finally made it to the Fresh Market over the weekend for the first time since starting the cookbook project.  I went armed with ten or so recipe variations to see what was in stock and what caught my eye.  Well the rack of pork did it.  The market had one crown roast of pork which looked gorgeous in the meat case sitting high above the other pieces of meat.  I mean look at this thing...

I started the process by making a pork brine of lemons, garlic, salt, and herbs and simmering the ingredients over the stove.  After brining the pork for ten hours, I mixed up a rub of cloves, garlic, lemon peel, herbs, and pepper using my mortar and pestle (using this thing always makes me feel like a caveman..lol)

I had "rubbed" the pork and was ready to put in the oven when I realized I had enough pork to feed a group of Roman dignitaries and only two mouths to feed it to.  I rounded up a few friends for an impromptu potluck dinner and pulled the roast out of the oven.  The finished product was gorgeous.  A crown roast sure does make an impressive presentation!

It tasted as good as it looked.  I did have some problems with it being evenly cooked throughout as the middle was close to medium-rare and the outsides were close to medium well but with it being such a large piece of meat, that was inevitable.  This one will go in the keeper pile.  It's beautiful when served and feeds a bunch of folks.  Arista, arista!