Whoever said roasts were easy, never did everything wrong!



I am "Holly Homemaker!"

 While I was at the store the other day, I noticed a great sale on pork loin roasts. I grabbed one and envisioned a delicious Sunday dinner. It was going to be my first time actually cooking a roast in the oven, but Mom always said that roasts were super easy. Sunday morning, I took my roast out of the freezer and put it in the fridge to thaw out. I carefully looked over my roasting instructions from my oven manuel, noticed that my roast was about 3.4lbs, and followed the corresponding line over to the appropriate cooking time of 35-45 minutes.

I came home from church and immediately became "Holly Homemaker" complete with apron and high heels! It was about 4:15, and I figured if I could get the roast in pretty quick, I'd be able to get it all done before the CES fireside at 6:00. This is where the madness begins. First, I noticed that my roast is still quite frozen, so I ran it under hot water for a good while. Then I seasoned it and put it in the oven (setting the timer for 40  mins). During that 40 minutes, I proceeded to make delicious mash potatoes, gravy, and green beans. When the timer hit about 7 minutes left, I checked the roast. To my utter horror, it wasn't cooked! I called my mom to see what the trouble was. As I talked with her, I discovered my awful mistake.

In tiny writing, the instructions said that I needed to cook the roast 30-45 minutes PER POUND! Not total!! How could I be so dumb? So, there I was with my side dishes all ready, hungry, and overwhelmed at my stupid mistakes. I had two options: 1.wait another hour or so for the roast to cook. 2. take the roast out and cut it into pork chops and fry them up. I went with option 1, and began running door to door in the cold, in my apron, in search of a meat thermometer (which I didn't own).

An hour or so later, after the fireside was practically over, I went to check on my meat. It wasn't up to the right temperature yet! I called my mother for maybe the 7th time to ask for help. She informed me that I should have thawed the roast out at least overnight if not for an entire day. How was I supposed to know? Suddenly, I began really despising my dream of  this easy roasting business. I amped up the oven temperature and just waited until the glorious red arrow on the thermometer hit 160. After a long stressful process of trying to learn how to make homemade gravy over the phone, my roommates and I were able to sit down and eat dinner. The meal was delicious, but I was emotionally and physically fatigued!

I did everything wrong, but in doing everything wrong, I think I now know how to do everything right. Sometimes making mistakes is the best way to learn. I'm glad this terrible experience happened now, and not in the future when I was cooking a meal for my husband and In- laws! (THE HORROR!)

So here's what I learned:
1. Thaw out a roast at least the night before...in fact, just don't freeze it at all!
2. The cook time given is times the weight of the roast, not total.
3. Don't cook all your side dishes too far in advance
4. Own a meat thermometer
5. Making home made gravy the perfect consistency is harder than it looks

6. Sometimes you just have to laugh at yourself to keep from crying