Welcome to Merry Christmas Week on the Algonquin Books Blog! To prepare you for all your holiday festivities, we’ve got decadent recipes and seasonal drinks and Christmassy stories from Algonquin authors, all week long! And whether you’re celebrating Christmas, or just enjoying the holiday season, we wish you all ten extra pounds and plenty of time to read by the fire.

.

Today we have a holiday recipe from Camille Glenn’s Old Fashioned Christmas Cookbook. (Sadly, this book is now out of print. But you can find it on eBay for a trillion dollars.) Camille has opened my eyes to a whole world of Christmas eating that I’d never considered. She proposes three different menus for your “Tree-Trimming Party”–at my house that means sipping cold coffee and stealing Christmas cookies when no one’s watching. Then there’s Christmas Eve Supper, Christmas Morning Breakfast, A Hearty Holiday Supper, the actual Christmas Day Dinner, the Elegant Christmas Dinner (Beluga Caviar!), and an assortment of holiday picnics, luncheons, tea parties, and, don’t forget, New Year’s parties. It reads like a sort of gastronomical nirvana that could very well end in the emergency room with acute butter poisoning. I am SO okay with this. For those of you in the throes of holiday menu planning, we’ve chosen a pork loin recipe from the Christmas Day Dinner menu. Enjoy!

–Susannah Long, Intern

.

Pork Loin Roast with Cider and Mother’s Poached Apples

.

Ask your butcher to cut through the chine bone; it should remain loosely attached to render its flavor to the roast, but then it can be removed for easier carving when the roast is done.

2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried rosemary, crumbled
4- to 5-pound center-cut pork loin roast
1/2 C. homemade chicken stock
1 C. apple cider
Freshly ground white pepper to taste
Watercress sprigs, for garnish

.

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. Stir the salt and rosemary together and rub the mixture thoroughly over the pork roast. Place the roast, fat side up, on a rack in a large roasting pan. Cook for 35 minutes per pound: 2 hours and 20 minutes for a 4-pound roast, 2 hours and 55 minutes for a 5-pound roast.

3. Halfway through the roasting time, pour the chicken stock and cider over the roast and sprinkle the white pepper over it. The roast is done when it registers 160 degrees (F) on an instant-reading thermometer.

4. Transfer the roast to a wooden carving board or a warm platter and garnish it with watercress and poached apples.