You may use fresh or dried herbs that you probably already have in your cupboard to make this delicious Bolognese pasta sauce, which is easy to prepare.
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 5 hrs |
| Total Time: | 5 hrs 20 mins |
| Servings: | 24 |
| Yield: | 1 8-pound roast |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons fennel seed
- 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
- 5 tablespoons minced garlic
- 2 tablespoons ouzo
- 1 (8 pound) fresh Boston butt pork roast
- 2 large onions, thickly sliced
- 1 fennel bulb, sliced thickly (Optional)
- water as needed
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Toast the fennel seed, rosemary, thyme, and peppercorns in a heavy pan over medium-low heat until strongly fragrant and the fennel seeds are lightly browned, 1 to 3 minutes. Do not let the spices burn! Place the toasted spices, sea salt, garlic, and ouzo into a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, and grind to a paste. Score the fat layer of the pork roast with a sharp knife; rub the spice paste all over the roast.
- Spread the sliced onions and fennel into the bottom of a large roasting pan; pour enough water into the pan to just cover the vegetables. Place the roast on top of the onions and fennel with the fat layer facing upward.
- Roast in the preheated oven until the pork is tender, 5 to 6 hours (or about 40 minutes per pound). An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read 185 degrees F (85 degrees C). Add extra water if needed during roasting to prevent the onions and fennel from burning.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 252 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 3 g |
| Cholesterol | 75 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 21 g |
| Saturated Fat | 6 g |
| Sodium | 285 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 17 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Used this recipe several times & it’s a family favorite! I roast in oven until 172% & it’s moist & delicious. We love it with mash potatoes
I made this in a crock pot, with a thermal probe that could only go up to 180. My roast was 8 lbs. I did not have ouzo, but I did have a pod of star anise, which I broke up into the pot. My mortar and pestle were broken, so I used a VitaMix blender on the spices, and then toasted them. The house had a strong smell of roasted fennel thereafter. The dried thyme wants to burn. I added no water, and cut up a couple of carrots which I threw into the pot for the heck of it, along with the two thick-sliced onions. It came out very, very well. The dark flavors of the fennel and the anise go so well with the pork, and the veggies help baste the meat. This is company-good. For what it’s worth, I’m not one of those people who normally likes a lot of anise (I can’t stand licorice). But this is a nice melange of flavors.
What delicious flavours! The smell was wonderful and tasted just as good. I slightly overlooked because I misjudged in converting down to a smaller size. That said, I would still make it again. I too didn’t have ouzo so I ground up some star anise. I also had some beets that needed to be used up so I roasted them and it was really good!
We loved this dish. We had a half of a Boston butt, so I halved the recipe. Did not have Ouzo, so used one tablespoon of Vodka and a 1/2″ piece of licorice. I also made it in a slow cooker, 1 hour on high followed by 12 hours on low. Added potatoes at the three hour mark and carrots at the nine hour mark. All done to perfection. When done, pulled everything out and added Worcestershire sauce and corn starch to the juice to thicken it for gravy. Leftovers were cut into bite sized pieces and simmered in the gravy with a bit of water for a great stew the next day.
Loved the spice paste!!! I had to use anisette instead of ouzo. Soooo tasty! My husband really liked it too. Threw some carrots in the last half hour of cooking, Yummy! Will use this again. I think it would be great on a roasted chicken.
I added coriander to the browning of spices. The smell was awesome. I used fresh red onions, a jalapeno cut in half and cauliflower sliced like steak cuts to hold the roast. The cauliflower got all of the flavoring of the spices. Since I needed to delay the roast being ready; the stove was set to 300 degrees and I removed from the oven when the temperature of the meat reached 172 degrees. So good.
It is very easy to make and my 4 pound roast took 3 hours to reach 178 temp ( I wanted to make sure the pork is cooked very well ). I used boneless pork shoulder butt roast. My whole family loved it! Thanks!
This recipe is fantastic! In the summer, I skip the onion and fennel bulb and instead, I use the rub on a 4-5 lb pork loin and smoke at 225F with a mix of apple wood and hickory. Take the roast out at 152F and wrap in foil for 1/2 hour or even up to about 2 hours, it still stays tender and juicy. My new “go-to” recipe for entertaining.
This was one of the best pork roast recipes I have ever tried! I didn’t have ouzo, so I used 2 Tbsp vodka & 1/4 tsp anise seed (crushed). I will definitely use the recipe again! 185 seemed too cooked for my taste; I only cooked to 170 and the meat was perfect.
The only thing I did different is I’m going to cook it on the grill on indirect heat for the first hour or so. THen I’ll finish it off in the oven!
So far, awesome. Just mixed the seasonings, and wow…the aroma is spectacular (strong, but good). The roast is cooking right now. I did not have the grinder either, so I just spread it after roasting them.
Really good. Used pork shoulder shank with bone – actually took about 4 hours, even though it was only 3 pounds. Next time I will salt the pork first.
This was wonderful, the only thing I did different was put it in the crockpot on high for 6 hours. Also just rubbed all of the spices on the roast, since I don’t have a mortar & pestle. It smelled so awesome, I couldn’t wait to try it. Don’t skip the fennel bulb. We really enjoyed this, one of the best recipes for pork roast.
Wow! I was quite surprised at how good the roast tasted given that it wasn’t slathered in some kind of sauce. I halved the recipe as I was using a roast that weighed 3.5 lbs. We used a pork loin roast as opposed to the Boston butt listed in the recipe as that is what we had on hand. In addition to the fennel and onions, we sliced up some cabbage we had in the fridge as I thought it would be add a great flavour. Next time I will add potatoes and make more of the rub to mix with the vegetables as they aren’t flavourful on their own (water doesn’t add flavour). The toasted spices were ground in our coffee grinder, and then added to a food processor with the ouzo and garlic. This rub is amazing! Our roast was done after about 2.5 to 3 hours. Making this again for sure!