
Svinestek
A classic Sunday roast of pork loin with crackling, brown gravy, and lingonberry on the side.
Cultural Context & History
The roast pork loin is the archetypal Norwegian søndagsmiddag — the Sunday dinner that gathers the family. Its crackling and dark gravy are the standard against which cooks are judged.
Ingredients
- 1.5 kg pork roast with rind, scored for crackling
- 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper0 kcal · 0 g protein · 0 g fat · 1330 g carbs per 100 g
- 1 carrot, roughly chopped341 kcal · 8.1 g protein · 1.5 g fat · 79.6 g carbs per 100 g
- 1 onion, roughly chopped289 kcal · 10.9 g protein · 0.8 g fat · 59.4 g carbs per 100 g
- 500 ml water42 kcal · 0 g protein · 0 g fat · 10.8 g carbs per 100 g
- For the gravy: 1 tbsp cornflour, 2 tbsp cream, the roasting juices
- Red cabbage, to serve54 kcal · 1.5 g protein · 0 g fat · 11.5 g carbs per 100 g
Per-100 g values shown for ingredients verified against Nutrition data: USDA FoodData Central (snapshot 2026-09-11). Ingredients not yet verified show no nutrition line.
Recommended Tools
- Sharp scoring knifeCuts clean, even lines through the rind for reliable crackling.
- Roasting tinHolds the vegetables and water that flavour the gravy.
- Meat thermometerConfirms the centre reaches a safe 74°C.
Product suggestions are editorial references only; no purchase or affiliate links are currently configured.
Step-by-Step Instructions
- 1
Score the rind in close lines, then rub the salt and pepper firmly into the skin and flesh.
- 2
Set the roast in a roasting tin with the chopped carrot and onion, and pour the water around it.
- 3
Roast at 175°C (345°F) for 1½ to 2 hours, until the centre reaches 74°C (165°F).
- 4
If the crackling needs more colour, blister it under a hot grill for 3 to 5 minutes, watching closely so it does not burn.
- 5
Rest the meat for 15 minutes before carving.
- 6
Whisk the roasting juices with the cornflour and cream into a glossy gravy, and serve with red cabbage.
Chef's Tip
Leave the scored, salted rind uncovered in the fridge overnight — a dry skin is what blisters into brittle crackling rather than steaming to leather.
How this page was made
- Written by
- The Norcook editorial archive. No individual author is named yet — see the editorial and food-safety policy for what that means and what has to happen before a byline appears.
- Content last checked
- — “checked” records an editorial check, not a qualified review. Where one exists, the recipe-specific review record appears in the food-safety callout.
- Regional context
- Østlandet — the hub carries the wider background, the ingredient glossary and its own sources.
- Sources
- No page-level sources are recorded for this recipe yet. The cultural background above is written as general context, not as a sourced historical claim.
Keep exploring
There are 76 more stories waiting in the index — from Arctic cures to viral bakes.
Browse all recipes