Roasted Pork Loin
Roasted pork loin is the Sunday roast par excellence of Romanian cooking — a generous piece of meat, studded with garlic and rubbed with mustard and paprika, baked slowly alongside potatoes that soak up its juices. It is the dish a family gathers around, simple to make yet impressive on the platter, equally at home on an ordinary Sunday and at a holiday meal. The key is patience: covered at first to stay tender, uncovered at the end to take on a crust, with a short rest before slicing so it stays juicy down to the last cut.
With mujdei and pickles
A traditional Romanian way to serve it
Just as good the next day
Sliced cold on the holiday platter
Studded with garlic
Garlic and mustard work right through the meat
Ingredients 6 servings
- 1.2kg pork loin
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 carrot, cut into batons (for larding)
- 2 tbsp mustard
- 1 tsp sweet paprika
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 tbsp oil
- 150ml dry white wine
- 800g potatoes, quartered
- Salt and black pepper to taste
How to make it
- 1Make deep cuts in the loin and stud it with slivers of garlic and batons of carrot.
- 2Mix the mustard with the oil, paprika, thyme, salt and pepper and rub the meat all over with the paste; let it marinate for at least an hour, ideally overnight.
- 3Sear the loin on all sides in a hot pan, then set it in a roasting tin, pour in the wine, add the bay leaves and arrange the quartered potatoes around it.
- 4Cover the tin with foil and roast at 180°C for about an hour, basting now and then with the juices, so it stays juicy.
- 5Take off the foil for the last 15–20 minutes, to brown nicely and form a crust.
- 6Let the meat rest for 10 minutes before slicing, so the juices stay inside.
Nutritional info
per serving (~350 g)
Estimated nutritional values.
Pairs perfectly with
