One of my favorite dishes to prepare is a pork roast in au jus gravy, and I made my own recipe so I should know how to give directions for it. Every time I’ve fixed this for others, I’ve been showered with compliments, and honestly, it’s fairly easy to prepare but just a wee bit on the time-intensive side for the fast-living folks nowadays.
Before cooking my pork roast, there are a few things I need to make sure I have. I need an oven, and I’ll have to have a pan that is at least a couple inches deep. I’ll want a small to medium-size sauce pan and a cast iron skillet. A large cutting board is helpful as well, to keep from making too big of a mess on the kitchen counter, and I’ll be sure to have a meat thermometer on hand.
Probably the most important things to have are the ingredients, because if you have the food, someone will let you borrow the cookware, provided you’re feeding them. The pork roast is a necessity, but I have a choice to make here. A pork tenderloin is the most tender pork roast (and most expensive), but it’s kinda small so it’s best for feeding two or three people. A pork half-loin is much bigger and will usually feed four to six. The tenderness isn’t that much of an issue, honestly, because the half-loin will soften up quite a bit in the oven. Some other ingredients needed are 1–2 McCormick au jus gravy packets (depending on the size of your roast), flour (optional), olive oil, lemon pepper, and garlic powder. Carrots, onions, celery, and potatoes can be added to the roast if desired.
Let’s talk about the time and money investment in this recipe. Depending on how fast someone works, the prep time can range from fifteen to thirty minutes, but no matter how fast one preps, the roast will take two to two and a half hours of cooking in the oven. As for money, I already have my spices, usually don’t add the vegetables, and typically cook this for four or five guys, and it almost always costs me $20 or less. If I were preparing this just for myself using the same size roast, I’d have enough for at least five meals, which is pretty good for the price and having home-cooked deliciousness.
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