A Pork Roast With Spirit

DEAR SOS: Help! I have lost a wonderful recipe for pork roast cooked with Bourbon and, I think, apples. It appeared in The Times about three or four years ago.

ELAINE PARKER

Huntington Beach

DEAR ELAINE: Just so you know: At the end of this recipe, when they say pass sauce, they are referring to the reduced pan juices, not the bottle of Bourbon.

Heavenly Bourboned Pork Roast

Active Work Time: 15 minutes * Total Preparation Time: 1 hour 40 minutes

The Times Test Kitchen started with a recipe in “Cooking With Bourbon,” published by Heaven Hill Distillery, made some changes and came up with a terrific roast. This recipe ran Oct. 7, 1998.

1 (3-pound) pork loin

Juice of 1 lemon

1 heaping tablespoon light brown sugar

1 teaspoon flour

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper

2 to 3 tablespoons minced parsley

1/2 cup Bourbon plus extra for soaking prunes

1 bay leaf

1 whole clove

1 small onion, chopped

4 to 5 very firm apples, such as Granny Smith, halved and cored, not peeled

8 to 10 pitted prunes soaked in Bourbon 15 minutes or more

2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Heat the oven to 325 degrees.

Rub the meat with the lemon juice. Mix the brown sugar, flour, paprika and salt and rub them all over the roast. Sprinkle with pepper. Place the roast on a meat rack in a roasting pan with a cover and sprinkle with the parsley and 1/4 cup Bourbon. Pin a bay leaf to the roast with a toothpick and put the roast, clove and onion in the pan. Cover and roast, 45 minutes.

Stuff each apple with 1 prune. After 45 minutes, remove the roasting pan from the oven and take off the cover. Arrange the apples, cut side down, in an overlapping layer around the roast. Pour the remaining 1/4 cup of Bourbon over the roast. Replace the cover and return the roast to the oven and continue cooking until a meat thermometer shows the internal temperature has reached 150 degrees, 40 to 50 minutes.

Remove the meat and apples to a serving dish. Add the granulated sugar to the pan juices and boil until reduced by 1/2. Slice the roast and serve it with 1 prune and 1/2 apple for each diner. Pass extra sauce separately.

6 to 8 servings. Each of 8 servings: 418 calories; 189 mg sodium; 125 mg cholesterol; 20 grams fat; 15 grams saturated fat; 18 grams carbohydrates; 37 grams protein; 3.19 grams fiber.