What a beautiful spring day today was, just a little windy, but other than that simply perfect! I was fortunate enough to spend the morning with my Mother taking her to church for Easter services, there weren’t too many places open to eat but we finely found a little diner opened and enjoyed breakfast together. I do cherish these times I have with my mother, especially around the holidays, she’s 93 and looking more frail with each passing year, but she still knows what’s going on and still takes care of herself living independently in an adult apartment building. Her friends in that community are simply amazing and love her almost as much as I do.
When I go home I had made plans for a special dinner to celebrate the day, and although not traditional as Easter fare, our meal was over the top delicious. It was such an easy to meal to make it almost cooked itself. I tend to treat meats that I roast or grill pretty much the same way, olive oil, sea salt and pepper. The only addition to this rack of pork was a hearty sprinkling of Montreal Beef seasoning, and let me tell you if you’ve never tried it, it does amazing things to pork!
I was in the mood for garlic mashed potatoes, and although Lisa does like garlic, it has to be worked into the dish and not overpowering. I thought that roasting the garlic would be the best choice to add flavor while still keeping it from getting too strong, or over powering the mashed. The garlic worked perfectly with the creamy butter like pieces blending into the mashed potatoes perfectly, but of course we needed gravy. That was an easy decision, because what goes better with mashed potatoes than a mushroom marsala sauce! What a flavorful combination!
- 1 -8 bone center cut rack of pork
- olive oil
- sea salt
- black pepper
- Montreal Steak Seasoning
- 2 carrots -rough cut
- 1 small onion-rough cut and include skins
- 2 stalks of celery- rough cut
- 6 cloves garlic peeled
- preheat oven to 450 degrees
- In a roasting pan add your rough cut vegetables
- rinse the rack of pork well and pat dry
- place rack fat side up, on top of cut veggies
- apply liberal amount of olive oil, rubbing it into the meat
- sprinkle entire rack with sea salt, pepper and then with an extra coating of Montreal Steak Seasoning (use a good amount of Montreal seasoning forming a light crust)
- place pan in preheat oven at 450 degrees for 15 minutes.
- after 15 minutes reduce heat to 325 and continue to roast for approximately 2 hours or until internal temperature on the outside of the racks has reached 160*
- This will ensure the outside of the pork is well done while the center cuts are not cooked quite as much. *
- Remove the Rack from the oven placing on a cutting board and allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing the meat. This will allow all the juices to remain in the rack, rather than have them run all over the plate, making the meat dry.
- While the rack is resting, place 2 cups of water in the roasting pan and place on the oven and with a spoon loosen all the baked in meat scraps from the pan, making your pan gravy.
- Strain out all of the vegetable pieces and any residue
- Cut the rack along the bones, making even portions of the pork, serve with your pan gravy and your favorite sides!
Years ago I use to serve 2 bone racks of pork in my restaurant, I would cook the larger full rack then cut them to order later in the evening after they were cooled. You have to think of these delicious pieces of roasted pork more along the lines of Prime Rib of Pork, and when you serve them they don’t have to be steaming hot. You want them to be fairly hot, but then serve them with the almost boiling pan gravy to give it that little bump. The pork will be tender and juicier than you have ever had before.
The other important factor in having this pork come out so tender and juicy is in the roasting. A very high temperature for a short time will sear and seal the meat, keeping the juices inside. You just want to make sure to reduce the heat of the oven to finish the slow roasting process, which not only ensures a juicy cut of meat, but also helps reduce shrinkage of the product. You also want to remember to always cook the meat with the fat side up, so the fat runs through the meat as it roasts, rather than just into the pan. Don’t worry about trimming any extra fat away before roasting, you can always remove it before serving. The fat does add flavor!
This was the most flavorful, tender piece of pork I think I have ever had, it even surprised me. I hope you do try this if you can find a good rack of pork, believe it or not I found this rack at Costco for under $25.oo. Who knew? I can’t wait to cook this again, but I will definitely invite some friends over to enjoy this magnificent piece of pork!
That’s about it for today my friends, I hope you had a wonderful weekend and that were ever you are in the world, you got to enjoy, good weather, good friends, and a good meal! See you all real soon!
What a beautiful rack of pork! Super impressive… I can imagine what a delicious meal this made… Thanks for the tips about cooking pork, Chef Dennis! Love this post!
It looks amazing and sounds delicious. It looks like i will have to talk to Dionne about us trying this out for sure! I hope your mother enjoyed her time with family and dinner as well!
Chef….I am drooling over that meaty rack of pork….simply mouth-watering! Glad that you had a wonderful bonding time with your momma
I am sure she enjoyed as much as you do with each other’s company. Thanks for the tips on cooking the rack of pork the right way. Will remember them when the time comes for roasting meat 
Have a wonderful day!
Elin
I am glad to hear you had a wonderful Easter and were able to spend precious time with your mother. I always cherish those memories. This looks like a fine piece of meat. Your meal sounds wonderful. I really need to roast a whole bunch of garlic one of these days.
It made me happy reading about your Easter weekend — taking your Mom to church, treating her to breakfast, considering your loved one’s preferences in regard to garlic, and then eating the best roast you’ve ever tasted — blessings all!
Oh my goodness, this oven roasted rack of pork looks heavenly! I must try this one. You make it look so easy. I bet it tastes divine! Thanks for sharing the recipe, Chef Dennis!
It looks as good as you made it sound and as much pork as I eat as loin roast, chops, BBQ etc, thr only racks I’ve done were as crown roasts. The moistness of the meat can be easily seen in your shot and now I’m hungry. MSS is our go to for beef, but I never thought of trying it on pork, but sure will now.
wow, that looks beautiful!
Chef Dennis,
This looks wonderful!!
Jackie
Beautiful. How nice you got to spend time with your Mom! I haven’t seen rack of pork but will be checking Costco next visit.
Beautifully prepared rack of pork! Hope you had a wonderful Easter and weekend
that’s very sweet of you to take care of your mother. and this looks fantastic! traditional, and perfect for easter. yum!
This looks fabulous my friend. Great way to celebrate the season. Enjoy those little moments with your Mom. I miss mine every day.
I’m not much of a meat-on-bone person. In fact I prefer lean meat and can go w/o it. This looks amazingly tender and juicy and delicious, however, and I know my husband would LOVE this. He adores a good prime rib, and this one looks perfect!
That, my friend, is a beautiful piece of pork. And it’s only 9:30am and I want to eat it, now!
This looks fantastic – oven roasting makes for such a tender, moist rack, and that spice rub is just perfect. I bet it was a wonderful meal.
beautiful! it looks so juicy and I lvoe that you spent time with your mom, I’m sure she loved it! anne
Rack of Pork has quickly become one of my all time faves and yours look delicious Dennis. I brined the last one I made, a couple of weeks back, but a spice rub looks like it may be in the cards for the next one. Thanks for a lovely post.
I love a rack of pork – and Montreal seasoning blends. I have a stash of them in my pantry at all times. This looks like the perfect holiday supper, even if it wasn’t traditional. I also loved reading that you spend time with your mom. I’m missing mine today.
Costco has some pretty good meat believe it or not. It certainly doesn’t beat the quality of meat from the butcher, but you can get a great beef tenderloin untrimmed for a pretty decent price. And, even with the waste its still a good deal! Great post. I have a pork roast to make tonight, and was wondering what I was going to do with it…I’m going to make it just like this.
Sadly Costco no longer carries this product. I’ve been asking them about getting it since the first of the year but no dice so far.
it must be a seasonal item, I have not been able to find it again. That’s too bad it was sooo good!
Costco is carrying the cut again. Just bought a rack of pork there today and plan to use this recipe. Looks and sounds delicious but I can’t “rate” it until I’ve tried it!
thanks for letting me know Betty, it was one of the best pieces of pork I’ve ever had, I’ll check out Costco’s this weekend!
Costco carry’s this for Holidays. They had them for Easter and Christmas. I do not know the other “Holidays..
Now I say the sort of thing that I hate to see in Food blog comments: I made your recipe and it was delicious except I changed the whole point of the thing. Instead of Montreal seasoning I used an old jar of Penzey’s Sunny Paris seasoning. I don’t know if they even make it any more. I did manage to throw in the appropriate vegetables. I also couldn’t follow the temp prescribed because I was baking bread at the same time. So it had 15 minutes at 500, 20 at 440 and the rest at 350.
I used the roasted garlic to flavor the smashed potatoes. Thanks for the inspiration.
Its all about what we like and what we can do. I glad I inspired you to create your own masterpiece!
Absolutely wonderful! I will make this for friends soon.
Thanks Linda!
this is the second time I am making this. My family loves this recipe. The pork comes out so juicy, tender and delicious . It’s so easy to make yet looks so impressive. I bought the rack at Costco, around $25 and feeds 4.
it certainly is a great deal, I heard they were back and just made one last week, for two of us it makes 3 meals. It really is a tasty easy dinner. Thanks so much for letting me know Carol!
This recipe is awesome. I invited 3 couples to my house a week ago and made this for the first time. It came out fabulous and I was not at all nervous as it is so easy. Had another 3 couples last night and added more carrots and baby red potatoes to the pan. One simple dish with everything included. Both times the pork was very juicy. Even after heating up the left over, wrapped up in foil, in a 325 oven for about 40 minutes.
I recommend everyone try it.
Thank you for letting me know Tilly, it is so easy and so delicious! It always seems to amaze your guests too.
Ironically, we bought one of these racks of pork at Costco this week and I was looking for a recipe, when I found your’s. We brined it for 2 hours and roasted it according to your recipe and it was WONDERFUL…melt in your mouth tender too!!! Served with garlic mashed potatoes and green beans…
Thanks for letting me know Pattie! I think I’m due a trip to costco to pick up a rack, it is delicious!
Just bought my first pork rack ever from Costco. (To my surprise as thought it was lamb.) I was unsure how to cook it so I googled pork rack and it lead me here!!! I am so glad I came across this, Montreal steak spice is my fav so it couldn’t have been a better fit! Thank you for the cooking techniques which ensured Ii served a spectacular meal. Cheers!
hi Amber
thanks for stopping by, and I hope everyone enjoyed the rack of pork, we just finished off one last week. With just two of us it makes for 3 meals, but we love every bit of that pork!
all the best-
Dennis
I USED THIS RECIPE OVER New Years an received rave reviews. When I went back to Costco they were out and said that it was a seasonal item. I was in Costco yesterday( March 28) and they had the Rack of Pork back in for Easter so I purchased two for a big Easter gathering we are having for the family.
Thanks so much for letting me know Roger, I wish they had it all year round, it is such an excellent dish! Glad to hear everyone enjoyed it and I hope you and your family have a very Happy Easter!
well today is Easter 2013 and I wanted to do something different came across this beautiful rack of pork and decided to try it for our Easter dinner . so this morning i looked on the net for a recapie and came across this one.. its 1:44 now and im pre heating the oven and getting ready to cook the pork I will let you know how it comes out in a few hours..Happy Easter to everyone and good cooking!!
Happy Easter Peggy
I hope to hear your family loved the rack of pork!
Chef Dennis thank you the Rack of Pork came out awsom!! I hope you and your family had a wonderful Easter!
Thanks for letting me know Peggy, I’m happy to hear your family enjoyed it and it added to your Easter experience! Hope to see you hear again!
The most fantastic roast ever- thank you for sharing. Raves all around from the men in my house!
Thank you for letting me know Patrice, I’m very happy to hear it was a success!
Absolutely wonderful, I added a little brandy very good touch.I will make it again .
hi Maria
thanks for letting me know, and I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the rack of pork!
I cannot ever recall seeing a rack of pork before the one I recently bought at Costco. Wasn’nt sure what to do with it. The first recipe that popped up when I did my online search was this one. Excellent outcome: juicy, tender and tasteful meat. Simple to make. Great for a special dinner party. Our guests loved it.
Thanks Mary, I happy to hear that it turned out well for you! I try to get it 2 or 3 times when its available, just a wonderful meal!