[Sca-cooks] Keeping pork moist in a recipe

[Terry Decker]

How fatty was the pork in 16th Century Europe?  Modernly, pork in the U.S. 
is raised to be fairly lean naturally and that may be an issue with this 
recipe.

Remembering some fire roasted steaks that were charcoal on the outside and 
raw on the inside, I can say having a blackened surface doesn't equate to 
thoroughly cooked.

As a practical matter, I would say this is braised pork with a fast high 
heat sear followed by a relatively low temperature, long cooking in liquid 
to break down the connective tissue.  YMMV.

Bear



Greetings,

On reading the following recipe, I predicted that the result would have
a rather dry pork.  I was right.  It wasn't super dry, but it couldn't
be called moist.

Is it possible, without varying the recipe greatly, to end up with pork
that isn't quite so dry?


Source: Battus, Carolus.  Cocboeck.  1593.

English translation by me:

110 How to make sauce on a pig's-hotchpotch

Take raw pork, broil very black on a roaster and then remove.  Cut in
pieces as large as it pleases you and then take flesh-broth or clean
water and put therewith vinegar, some salt, red wine, pepper, cinnamon,
cloves.  Leave together to boil, then add your broiled flesh and leave
together to stew until it is enough and serve.


Redaction:

I stayed fairly closely to the recipe.  I had butterflied loin chops,
rather than a roast.  Instead of broiling the pork "very black", which I
wasn't going to interpret literally, I broiled it to about a medium or
medium-dark brown.

The recipe doesn't say to marinate in advance, so I did not.

I cut the broiled pork into approximately 3/4 inch cubes.

The recipe says to stew afterwards, and I did that for about 30 minutes,
plus it all sat cooling slowly for about an hour until served, so it had
a fairly good chance to 'marinate' after the broiling.


Any experience / advice / thoughts ?


Thorvald

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