To Sowce a Pigge
(Collar of Brawn)

Origin: English      Period: Elizabethan

Original Recipe

To Sowce a Pigge (The good Huswifes Jewell)

Take white Wine and a little sweet broth, and half a score nutmegs cut into quarters, then take Rosemarie, Baies, Time, and sweet margerum, and let them boyle altogether, skum them very cleane, and when they be boyled, put them in an earthen pan and the syrop also, and when yee serve them, a quarter of a pig in a dish, and the Bays and nutmegs on top.

Modern Redaction

Ingredients:

750g piece of boned pork loin
cheesecloth or muslin (about 50cm square)
600ml veal, chicken or lamb stock
475ml dry white wine
3 bay leaves
1 nutmeg, quartered
½ tsp thyme
½ tsp rosemary
½ tsp marjoram
1½ tsp salt

For the sauce:
1 tsp mustard powder
2 tbsp white wine vinegar

Method:

Prepare the pork by removing all but a very thin layer of fat from its upper surface. Now roll the meat tightly and place in the middle of the muslin. Roll this around the meat, tie off with butcher's string and knot the free ends of the muslin securely.

Place the stock, half the white wine and all the seasonings into a large saucepan (preferably one with a tight-fitting lid) and bring to the boil. Once the mixture is boiling add the pork roll, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook until the meat is tender (about 2½ hours cooking time). At this time remove the meat from the saucepan and place in a large bowl. Add the remining wine to this as well as the strained herbs from the cooking broth. Now pour just enough of the remaining cooking broth over the meat to just cover it. Set the meat aside to cool and once cold cover with a lid or with clingfilm and place in the fridge.

The meat now needs to marinate in the liquid for a week. Once a day turn the meat so that each side faces the bottom of the bowl in sequence.

Once the week is up, remove the pork from the mariande, dry off, remove the cloth covering and slice into 1cm thick rounds. Place these on a dish and spoon a few tablespoons of the pickling liquid (and the herbs over). Meanwhile mix the mustard powder with the vinegar and spoon this over the pork (as an alternative to mustard powder you could add 2 tbs of prepared mustard to 2 tbsp of white wine vinegar).

This was a festival dish and was generally served on twelfth night.

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