Roast Beast

December 22, 2009 9:33 AM

I recently bought a share of a pig from a farmer, and it came wrapped in various cuts. One of the cuts is a large, meaty, bony one called "chine end roast." How should I cook this?

My Googling seems to indicate it comes from the back of the pig and includes some of the bones of the spine, and that it's kind of next to the rib roast. Should I cook it like a rib roast? Or maybe a pot roast? Or braised? I'm just not sure what kind of treatment might do this big ol' meaty cut justice. Thanks for any ideas.

posted by Miko to Food & Drink (4 answers total)

I would cook it like a pork shoulder or other big time roast, slow and low, maybe with some braising. 'Til you can shread it with a fork. BBQ, pork tacos, etc.
posted by craven_morhead at 9:48 AM on December 22, 2009

You'll find more recipes if you Google "bone in pork roast" or "bone in pork loin"--this is what that cut is called by cookbook writers, as opposed to butchers.
posted by Sidhedevil at 9:51 AM on December 22, 2009 [1 favorite]

One of the top results on Google for "chine end roast" is this question. No wonder you are perplexed! I like this recipe which I sort of cobbled together one night by accident. Or you can get the book I mention in there which is here.
posted by mkb at 9:51 AM on December 22, 2009

"Chine" refers to any cut that includes a portion of the backbone, so I suspect you have loin portions in that piece (also, "chined" refers to the bone having been removed from a particular cut). It can be anywhere from small to several pounds, depending on the degree to which the primal cuts have been broken down into final "retail/consumer" cuts. If it's quite large, you probably have both blade-end and center-cut roasts in that big hunk of gorgeous pork. Depending on the size of the piece you received, you might consider cutting it down further and separating it into small roasts/cuts. The blade-end portion will tend to be fattier and with a larger ratio of fat to muscle; the center-cut portion will be the opposite.

This chart (14 MB PDF) might help you identify more exactly what you've got and then correlate it to cooking method. I'm at work right now and don't have my big glossy NAMP Meat Buyer's Guide (and it's 4 pounds of nothing'-but-meat pictures) with me, but if you want to MeFiMail me more details of what you've got, I can look it up later and email back.
posted by webhund at 10:10 AM on December 22, 2009 [3 favorites]