[Sca-cooks] Bourbelier of Wild Pig

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

On Sep 15, 2006, at 9:26 AM, Saint Phlip wrote:

> As far as the plunge into the hot water initially, I'm wondering two
> things- first, if it's intended as a mild reduction of its hot and dry
> nature, if indeed wild pig was perceived to have those characteristics
> (can anybody tell me how pigs rate on the humoral scale?)

Abdul-Hassim seems to feel pork is warm and humid in the first  
degree, so one could probably make a case for the blanching,  
roasting, and final boil as coming under the heading of  
"neutralization of the dangers". However, The Physician makes no  
specific mention of wild pigs versus domestic, AFAIK, apart from a  
lovely boar illustration in the section on acorns.

> Secondly,
> I'm wondering if the hot water plunge might be intended to solidify
> the surface of the roast, to make it easier to work with, insofar as
> poking it full of cloves- a technique rather akin to freezing meat, as
> we moderns do, so that we might slice it thinner.
>
> Adamantius? Any thoughts?

It's certainly possible. It's hard to say why this seems to be so  
common a step in preparation for meats to be roasted, but it does  
appear to tighten the skin and make it more receptive to seasonings,  
make the meat more attractive when roasted, maybe soften the surface  
of a fatty cut for studding with cloves or larding (if it was  
previously cold, especially), and probably also stiffen it up for  
mounting on a spit.

I'm curious as to what makes a bourbelier a bourbelier; some sources  
seem to suggest we're talking about the tail of the critter, but then  
Robert's Beard sauce (a.k.a. Taillemaslee or Sauce Robert) contains  
no finely chopped beard, either.

Adamantius