The Fall Fruit Jamie Oliver Pairs With Pork Instead Of Apples

While fall-favorite apples have a long history of being paired with pork, there is another cider-friendly fruit that's just as welcome on autumnal menus as our crisp, tart-skinned friend: the pear. Sharing the same peak season (late summer through fall) as their botanical cousin in the Rosaceae family (yes, that's the same as roses, plums, and cherries), pears have a softer sometimes grainier texture and thinner skin than their firmer, crunchier counterparts. Their flavor — subtle, unmistakably floral, honey-kissed but never sharp — is likely why Jamie Oliver chose to pair them in his pear-roasted pork loin joint recipe. Pear-fectly savory-sweet, the roast pork recipe from The Naked Chef is full of quintessential autumn flavors you're sure to fall in love with.

The British celebrity chef uses pears in three ways in his pork loin recipe, first as a stuffing, next as a side, and lastly in the gravy. Oliver starts with the stuffing, using toasted sourdough, a coarsely-grated pear, crushed pine nuts, chopped fresh sage, sea salt, black pepper, and olive oil, before tucking the mixture under a flap cut into the pork between the loin and belly meat. Pork juices infuse the stuffing with rich flavor while the meat cooks. 

Oliver's recipe calls for a little over two pounds of boneless pork loin and six pork bones. Faithful execution of this dish begins at the butcher shop, where he recommends having the butcher remove the bones and score the pork loin, "1 cm deep and at 1 cm intervals." Once stuffed, the pork loin (with fennel seed and sage rub) initially roasts at high heat for the first 30 minutes before cooking for an additional hour at a lower temperature. Roasting on a bed of the aforementioned pork bones and quartered red onion ensures the pork will not only be flavorful but that the beginnings of a rich pork gravy are already in play. The scoring and high temp ensure a crisp outer layer or "crackling," which, in an unrelated YouTube video about pork, Oliver declares, "People fight over."

Oliver also preps three more pears as a sweet side, cutting and roasting them until tender and caramelized in a separate pan, along with two chopped bulbs of fennel, a quartered red onion, fresh garlic, rosemary, bay leaves, sage, and olive oil. The gravy is made from those rendered pork drippings, chicken stock, and "perry" aka hard pear cider (sub pear or apple cider, if you're alcohol avoidant). The gravy is then drizzled over the pork, served with the pear and veg side. 

If Jamie's pear and pork combo has you inspired, try this other pork roast recipe which is a further example of the fusion of flavors Jamie Oliver adds to his pork roast, this time including onion, peach, pear, and apple together with a splash of bourbon. Or give our sweet and spicy apricot-glazed pork chops recipe a go for another fruit-and-pork pairing you're sure to enjoy.