Friday, November 04, 2005

Pig meat and truffles

This is an old Roman recipe:

1. Take a 3-4 pound pig loin roast (must be WHOLE, not two pieces tied).

2. Lay the meat out and start an incision along the length of the meat - cut it so that if you were looking at it from the little round side you would be cutting it like a jelly roll. You should end up with a single long piece of meat in the shape of a rectangle. You may want to pound it with a mallet between wax paper to flatten it.

3. Mix together some chopped truffle and 4-5 T butter and take 1/2 lb. of mortadella, thinly sliced. Spread 1 T of it on the meat, put a thin layer of mortadella and lay it on top of the butter and meat. Take another T. of the truffle butter, spread it on the mortadella, then lay another layer of mortadella on top. Top off with 1 T. of the butter. You will use all the mortadella to do this.

4. Roll the meat like a jelly roll and tie it securely with string (I prefer the round cooking elastics that stretch).

5. In a mortar and pestal grind 1 T. pepper corns, 1 t. kosher salt, 3-4 large cloves of garlic, and 1 T. REGULAR butter. Spread it on top of the meat.

6. Cook on a rack in a roasting pan so that the drippings fall into the pan. You may want to add some red wine in the bottom of the pan so it doesn't get smokey. Cook at 450 for the first 20 minutes, then at 375 until the meat registers 150 with a thermometer.

7. Peel and cut into small wedges about 3-4 lbs yellow (I prefer Yukon Golds) potatoes. Par boil for about 2-3 minutes. Toss with some olive oil (2 T.), salt (1 t.) and some pepper grindinigs and 1 T. fresh chopped rosemary.

8. Half way through cooking, add the potatoes to the bottom of the pan with the pork dripping, stirring occasionally.

9. When the meat and potatoes are done, let the meat stand for 5 minutes, then carve. Arrange the potatoes around it.

10. Deglaze the pan with some broth (1/2 c. beef OR chicken), and stir in the remaining truffle butter. Cook til reduced.

11. Slice the meat, and cover with the sauce, and serve.

Note: Sorry Homo Edax is not more precise about how to prepare this dish. He knows recipes like he knows Rome - by his senses and not through his head! (Per sensus, non cum sapientia!)

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