Pulpa de porc fiarta

"Boiled thigh of pork"

I found this recipe in Teodoreanu’s book, Gastronomice the other day and wanted to give it a try. I can’t it’s a style of cooking pork that I’ve seen much in restaurants here but a couple of friends have told me that it used to be more common than it is now, being more of a home-cooked meal. It also reminds me of Sunday joints from my youth, the cold slices of meat ending up in our sandwiches for school on the Monday. I always loved the cold meat from the Sunday joint whether it be beef, lamb, pork or chicken. The pork in this recipe tasted pretty nice: reasonably moist when freshly cut with a subtle seasoning. Needless to say I had most of the rest the next day in sandwiches. I served it with a simple patience dock leaf dish and some potatoes (cartofi Munenesti) but really it could have done with a sauce. Of course, I would usually be tempted to smother it with apple sauce, but I’m not sure if that’s particularly Romanian. Do you Romanians ever have apple sauce with pork?

Time: 2 hours

Servings: 4-5

Ingredients:

1.5-2kg of pork thigh (pulpa de porc)

3-4 spring onion

2-3 fresh green garlic stems (or cloves)

Black peppercorns

Allspice

Bay leaf

Salt

Dry white wine (optional)

Method:

1. Trim off any excess fat from the pork joint, leaving, at most, a thin layer.

2. Put the joint into a deep pan and cover with water.

3. Add (roughly chopped) 3 or 4 spring onions, 2 or 3 green garlic stems (or cloves of garlic), a teaspoon of black peppercorns, a few dried allspice berries, a bay leaf, a spring or two of fresh thyme (or a level teaspoon of dried thyme), and a good few pinches of salt.

4. Cover and put on a low heat for at least an hour, possibly two.

5. As the level of liquid drops, top it up from time to time with either some more water or the dry white wine.

6. After the first hour check the meat with a fork to see if it is done. It should be soft and tender and easy to pulled bits off. If you have a meat thermometer, use that to check the internal temperature is at least 66C (150F).

7. When cooked, lift it out of the pot and rest for 5-10 minutes before carving into slices.