Otto Say’s
Pasta sanza vino e
come il cuore sanza amore
Pork and its uses
Roasted Rosemary Pork Loin (serves 8)
Ingredients
3 minced garlic cloves
45 ml. dried rosemary leafs
4 to ml 5ml each Salt and peppers to taste
1 kg. Boneless
pork loin roast
100 ml. olive oil
125 ml. white wine
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven at 175
C...
2. Crush the garlic with
rosemary, salt and pepper making a paste. Pierce the meat with a sharp knife in
several places and press the garlic paste into the opening and rub the meat
with the remaining of the mixture with the oil.
3. Place the roast into the oven, turning and basting with
the pan liquid.
4. Cook until the pork is no longer pink in the center about
1 hour .If using a meat thermometer it should read 62 to 64 C. Remove the roast
from the pan.
5. Heat the wine in the pan and stir to loosen the browned
bits of food on the bottom .Serve with the pan juice
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig .
It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide,
Pork is eaten both
freshly cooked and preserved. Curing extends the shelf life of
the pork products. Hams,
smoked pork ,gammon, bacon and sausage are
examples of preserved pork. Charcuterie is
the branch of cooking devoted to prepared meat products, many from
pork.
Pork is a popular meat in the Western world, and is very
common in Chinese cuisine. The religions of Judaism and Islam, as well as several
Christian denominations, forbid pork. It remains illegal in several Muslim
countries. Raw or undercooked pork may contain trichinosis.
Pork may be cooked from fresh meat or cured over time. Cured
meat products include ham and bacon. The carcass may be used in many different ways for
fresh meat cuts, with the popularity of certain cuts and certain carcass
proportions.
Fresh meat
Most of the carcass can be used to produce fresh meat and in
the case of a suckling pig, the whole body of a young pig
ranging in age from two to six weeks is roasted. Danish roast pork or flæskesteg,
prepared with crispy crackling is a national favourite as the
traditional Christmas dinner. Italian does basically the same and call porchetta
and many others ways of other nationality favourites .
Processed pork
Pork is particularly common as
an ingredient in sausages. Many traditional
European sausages are made with pork, including chorizo, fuet, Cumberland sausage and salami. Many brands of American hot dogs and most breakfast sausages are made from pork.
Processing of pork into sausages and other products in France is described
as charcuterie.
Ham and bacon are made from fresh pork by curing with salt (pickling)
and/or smoking. Shoulders
and legs are most commonly cured in
this manner for Picnic shoulder and ham, whereas streaky and round bacon come from the side (round from
the loin and streaky from the belly).
Ham and bacon are popular foods in the west, and their
consumption has increased with industrialization. Non-western cuisines also use
preserved meat products. For example, salted preserved pork or red roasted pork
is used in Chinese and Asian cuisine.
Bacon is defined as any of certain cuts of meat taken from the
sides, belly or back that have been cured and/or smoked. In continental Europe,
it is used primarily in cubes (lardons) as a cooking ingredient
In Italy, besides being used in cooking, bacon (pancetta)
is also served uncooked and thinly sliced as part of
an antipasto. Bacon is also used for barding roasts, especially game birds. Bacon is often smoked,
using various types of wood, a process which can take up to ten hours. Bacon
may be eaten fried, baked, or grilled.
PORK Grading
Pork is not graded with quality grades as it is generally
produced from young animals that have been bred and fed to produce more
uniformly tender meat. Appearance is an important guide in buying fresh pork.
Look for cuts with a relatively small amount of fat over the outside and with
meat that is firm and grayish pink in colour. For best flavour and tenderness,
meat should have a small amount of marbling. Pork’s consistency makes it
suitable for a variety of cooking styles. Chops can be prepared by pan
broiling, grilling, baking, braising or sautéing. Ribs can be braised, roasted
or grilled. Slow cooking yields the most tender and flavourful results.
Tenderloins are considered to be the most tender and tasty cut of pork.
Cuts of pork
The pig is well known for being able
to be used from nose-to-tail. There are different systems of naming
for cuts in America, Britain and
France.
Head - This can be used to make brawn, stocks and soups.
After boiling, the ears can be fried or baked and eaten separately.
Spare rib roast/spare rib joint / blade shoulder / shoulder
butt- This is the shoulder and contains the shoulder blade. It can be boned out
and rolled up as a roasting joint, or cured as "collar bacon". It is
not to be confused with the rack of spare ribs from the front belly. Pork butt,
despite its name, is from the upper part of the shoulder. The Boston butt,
or Boston-style shoulder, cut comes from this area, and may contain the
shoulder blade.
Hand/arm shoulder/arm picnic- This can be cured on the bone to
make a ham-like product, or used in sausages.
Loin - This can be cured to give back bacon or
Canadian-style bacon. The loin and belly can be cured together to give a side
of bacon. The loin can also be divided up into roasts (blade loin roasts,
centre loin roasts, and sirloin roasts come from the front, centre, or rear of
the loin), back ribs (also called baby back ribs, or riblets), pork cutlets,
and pork chops.
A pork loin crown roast is arranged into a circle, either boneless or with rib
bones protruding upward as points in a crown. Pork
tenderloin, removed from the loin, should be practically free of
fat. This high quality meat shows a very ordered arrangement of muscle cells
that can cause light diffraction and structural coloration.
Fatback - The subcutaneous
fat and skin on the back are used to make pork rinds,
a variety of cured "meats", lardons,
and lard.
Belly/side/side pork - The belly, although a fattier meat,
can be used for steaks or diced stir-fry meat. Belly pork may be rolled for
roasting or cut for streaky bacon.
Legs/hams - Although any cut of pork can be cured,
technically speaking only the back leg is entitled to be called a ham. Legs and
shoulders, when used fresh, are usually cut bone-in for roasting,
or leg steaks can be cut from the bone. Three common cuts of the leg include
the rump (upper portion), centre, and shank (lower portion).
Trotters - Both the front and hind
trotters can be cooked and eaten, as can the tail.
Spare ribs, are taken from the pig's ribs and the meat
surrounding the bones. St. Louis-style spareribs have the sternum, cartilage,
and skirt meat removed.
Knuckles, intestines,
jowls and all other parts of the pig may also be eaten.
