SC - Culinary Guild

[JEN AND THOM CONRAD]

Well, folks, I made this several times running.

We got a great deal on pork shoulder, .49 american a pound
at the commissary on base. We bought 4, and 4 boxes of dired
caly figs.

THE HAM SHOULD BE BRAISED WITH A GOOD NUMBER OF FIGS AND
SOME THREE LAUREL LEAVES; TEH SKIN IS THEN PULLED OFF AND
CUT INTO SQUARE PIECES; THESE ARE MACERATED WITH HONEY.
THEREUPON MAKE DOUGH CRUMBS OF FLOUR AND OIL. LAY THE DOUGH
OVER OR AROUND THE HAM STUD, STUD THE TOP WITH THE PIECES OF
SKIN SO THAT THEY WILL BE BAKED WITH THE DOUGH AND WHEN
DONE, RETIRE FROM THE OVEN AND SERVE.

attempt 1: Robs version
got out the pork, and figs. He cheated and used already pie
crusts. He put the pork, bay leaves and worchestershire
sauce in a stock pot, with water to cover and braised it in
the oven at 375-400 degrees fahr for about 1 1/2 hours,
until the meat thermometer read 160. He then pulled it out,
dumped the braising liquid and peeled off the skin. He cut
it into squares and soaked it in honey with a dash of
worchestershire sauce.

He wrapped the already pie crust around the trimmed and
dried off shoulder, and stuck the skin pieces back on top.
He put it back in the oven at 350 degrees fahr for about
half an hour. He went to check it out but when he opened the
oven to use the meat thermometer, the pie crust was not up
to the task and had buckled and slid off, and the surface
had started to brown. e decided that browning wasn't
desired, as the crust we figured was to keep the moisture in
and preserve the white color of the pork. We finished
roasting it, and it was very good, but a litle dry.

attempt 2:
got out the pork, figs, 3 bay leaves and the worchestershire
sauce[my garum!] and grabbed down a stock pot sized a bit
larger than the shoulder. popped in the figs, bay leaves,
about 1/4 c worchester sauce and water to cover, and covered
the pot. I popped it in the oven, set on 375-400 degrees
fahr. and watched an episode of  I Claudius to get in the
mood. After the first episode, I poked it with a meat
thermometer and found it to be 150 degrees fahr. so I
decided to leave it in for another half an hour. After half
an hour, I got out olive oil and flour, and a dash of water
made a basic mix stiff enough to be handled and wrapped
around the shoulder.

I pulled the pot out, and fished out the shoulder, and
reserved it. I put the braising liquid in a pan and reduced
it to 1/4, and thickened it with a slurry of cold water and
spelt flour. Saved it and served it on the side. It needed
salt, pepper and another dash of worchesteshire sauce.

I pulled off the skin and flensed off some of the fat layer
that was left behind, and did a bit of judicious trimming of
bits to neaten things up while the squares of skin were
floating in a bowl of honey. I also scraped off the figgy
mush bits adhering in crevaces and dried it with paper
towels. On my cutting board, i had a layer of dough patted
out to about 1/2" thick, and about 2'x2'. I wrapped the
shoulder and sealed all the seams.  I stuck the rather
sticky [and hot] pieces of pigskin to the top of the whole
mess. I put it into a shallow cake type pan with a roasting
rack in the bottom that has nifty handles to help you pull a
roast or bird out without getting burned or messy. I then
baked it at about 300 degrees fahr. for the half episode
left over, and almost all of the third one. I snuck the meat
thermometer into the beastie, which cracked the crust all to
heck, and it registered as done. We picked off all the crust
and popped it onto a platter and had refried mush with pine
nuts[vehling #299, sort of] and leeks and beets [#67] which
everybody considered a big success.

Next-
well, if rob manages to bag some nice squirrels, dormice
farci?
margali

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