No. 1799

Rack of Pork on the Spit

Carre de Porc a la Broche

Cut a rack of fresh pork containing six to eight ribs; leave it covered a quarter of an inch thick with its own fat and pare the chine bone; saw it off as far as the edges of the ribs, separate the adhering meat on top of the ribs and cut them so they are only two and a half inches long; score the top into lozenges, roll over the flap and tie up the rack with eight rows of string; lay it on the spit and leave it to cook for about an hour, basting it occasionally. Glaze, dress and serve over some clear gravy No. (404).

← No. 1798 Rack of Pork Crown-Shaped with Small Onions Pork No. 1800 Rack of Pork with Stuffed Peppers →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes a butcher's counter, a coal-fired spit and a stockpot of veal gravy already at hand. The method translates cleanly to a rotisserie or a hot oven, but the timing in the original is much too short for modern pork cut this thick.

What to ask the butcher forA center-cut bone-in pork loin roast of six to eight ribs, about 4 to 5 lb, with the fat cap left on at roughly a quarter inch. Ask for the chine bone removed and the rib ends frenched to about two and a half inches — that is exactly the work described here.
TimingThe original hour may well be short of a modern 145F target for a 4-5 lb loin. Cook to an internal temperature of 145F at the thickest point away from bone — roughly 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours in a moderate oven — then rest 15 minutes. Judge by the thermometer, not the clock.
Spit to ovenOn a rotisserie, medium-high indirect heat with a drip pan below reproduces the original closely. In an oven, start at 450F for 15 minutes to set the scored fat, then drop to 350F for the remainder, basting with the pan drippings every 20 minutes.
Scoring into lozengesCut the fat cap in a shallow diamond pattern, through the fat only and not into the meat. This is what lets the fat render and color; skip it and the cap stays flabby.
Rolling the flap and tyingThe thin flap of meat at the loin's edge is rolled over so it does not scorch. Ranhofer specifies eight rows of butcher's twine, which keeps the roast compact and the shape even.
GlazingRanhofer means brushing with reduced meat glaze (glace de viande) in the last minutes for shine, not a sugar glaze. A few spoonfuls of well-reduced stock brushed on twice at the end does the same job.
The gravyNo. 404 is Ranhofer's clear gravy, cross-referenced from his stock and sauce chapter; the roast is served over it, so it sits thin beneath rather than poured on top. A good reduced veal or chicken stock, skimmed of fat, is the modern stand-in.
YieldSix to eight ribs serves six to eight, one rib each, carved between the bones.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) was Charles Ranhofer's summation of some three decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and its structure shows the kitchen brigade it was written for: entry after entry differing by a single element, so that No. 1798 crowns the same rack with onions and No. 1800 sets it beside stuffed peppers. Carry extension the squared rack of ribs, and the trimming described here — sawing the chine, shortening and cleaning the rib bones, rolling the flap — is the classic French butchery that produces the presentation later cooks call a frenched rack. Spit-roasting before an open fire was still in use for large joints in kitchens of this class, alongside the closed range; the frequent basting Ranhofer calls for helped keep a surface exposed to radiant heat from drying. The pork of the 1890s was also a fatter animal than today's lean loin.