Cormary - Roast Loin of Pork with Red Wine

I decided to use one of those pork loins I bought on an incredible sale.  I wanted something medieval and different to serve to company (who know that I experiment with cooking on them!).

I found an intriguing recipe in The Medieval Kitchen:  Recipes from France and Italy by Odile Redon, Francoise Sabban, and Silvano Serventi.  

ISBN 0226706850

On page 107-8 they offer "Cormary," which they took from The Forme of Cury, where it was spelled "Cormarye."  The Cury book is a collection of 14th century English recipes that was republished in the 1800s.

Their translated version says this:

Take finely ground coriander and caraway, pepper powder, and ground garlic, in red wine; mix all this together and salt it.  Take raw pork loins, skin them, and prick it well with a knife, and lay it in the sauce.  Roast it when you wish, and save what falls from the meat as it roasts and boil it in a pot with good broth, and then serve it with the roast.

They also provide their redacted recipe, which I mostly followed.  I'll provide my version.

Cormary

1 pork loin, about 3 pounds (mine was boneless)

1 cup good red wine

4 large cloves garlic (mine were already chopped)

1 teaspoon whole coriander

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

1/4 teaspoon salt

scant 1/2 cup chicken broth

The baking dish asked to join the picture.

Mix the coriander, caraway, peppercorns, and salt in a mortar.  Grind well.  Add chopped garlic and grind some more.  Grind it to a paste.

Put the paste into a glass baking dish; add wine and mix well.

Poke the meat all over with a knife.  

Put the meat into the dish, turning it several times to coat it with the marinade.  Cover the meat and dish, and refrigerate for at least several hours, up to overnight.  Turn occasionally.

Once the marinating time is almost done, preheat oven to 350 degree F.  Pour off the marinade into a cup.

Bake the meat, uncovered, basting every 15 minutes with the marinade.  Stop when the meat is done to your taste, roughly 60 to 90 minutes for a 3-pound roast.

Pour the drippings off the meat and let the meat rest.  Put the drippings and the broth into a pan and boil to reduce.

After 10 minutes of resting, slice the meat and serve with some of the gravy poured over the top.

Spices and salt

All ground up

Adding the chopped garlic

Resulting paste.

Stabbing the meat

Meat in the marinade

Ready to roast!

My Notes

The spices smelled wonderful while they were being ground!  It was an interesting combination of scents.  

I turned the meat three or four times during the about 7 hours it was marinating.  

I put the meat in the pan fat side up for roasting.

I basted mostly by pouring the marinade over the top.  I only did a little bit of brushing.

It helped to have a timer set to remind me to baste.

I think 1/2 cup broth was too much.  I would use at most that much, depending on how much pan juices you end up with.  I probably could have used less than 1/4 cup.

I sliced the meat to about 1/4-inch thick pieces for serving.

Done!

Too much liquid.

The Verdict

I served it with green beans and stuffing.

It smelled lovely.  The spice mix scent along with the wine which, combined, didn't smell like any one singular scent, just mouthwateringly-tempting: spicy and sweet.  (I have to add that the leftovers, when reheated, still smelled that way!)

My guest tasters noted that the basted top had a nice, almost crunchy layer.  

We all enjoyed eating it.  Several of us thought perhaps I could have cooked it less, say 15 to 30 minutes less because while it wasn't dry, there wasn't any pink and it wasn't as moist as we would have liked it to be.  We can have pink in the center because we are confident the pork supply in my area is clean.

I thought the marinade flavor had intruded into the meat somewhat, and not too much.  I liked the idea of poking it with a knife to allow the marinade in; it seemed to work well.  

So, success!  We had enough for four people at dinner to have what they wanted and some left over.  Reheated tasted just as good, because I saved the extra drippings/broth and poured a little over the meat before putting into the microwave.

That being said, I think I am torn between the feeling that 1/2 cup broth was too much for the first time it was served and was just right for putting over the leftovers.  So judge your table guests:  Will there be leftovers?  Then may don't add as much broth so the flavor of the drippings is not diluted.  

Also, I wish I had defatted the drippings before heating them with the broth.  They were pretty greasy, which didn't seem to impact my guests' enjoyment at all.  I did defat the leftover broth with ice cubes before storing it in the refrigerator.  (I know, I could have done that after the broth chilled in the 'fridge, but that is what I did.)

I would do this again.  

Adobo para lomos, Marinade for loins -- a Pinedo recipe

The grocery store had an incredible sale on pork loins the other day, so I partook with the idea of finding a Pinedo recipe for it.  And I did.  On page 4 is a "Marinade for loins" that looked intriguing.  I had some questions with the instructions, so I experimented a little bit which you will see in the notes.

Here it is, "Adobo para lomos":

My Translation

My Redaction

3.4 pound boneless pork loin

1 cup apple cider vinegar

1 cup water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon pepper

1 tablespoon cumin seed

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

2 fresh bay leaves

8-inch long piece of fresh rosemary

1 tablespoon loosely packed fresh oregano leaves

<The usual picture with all the ingredients disappeared!>

Day 1

Slice the loin into 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick pieces

Strip the leaves off the rosemary stem; discard the stem.  Mix marinade in plastic tub with a lid.  Whisk the ingredients well together.

Immerse the meat in the tub.

Refrigerate.

Shake the container once in the evening.

Day 2

Shake the container 2 (or more) times during the day.

Day 3

Shake the container in the morning.

Heat up a little olive oil in a Dutch oven or fry pan, then reduce the heat to low (2 of 10 or so).

Fry the meat slowly over that low heat until it looks done about 2/3 of the way up the sides.  Flip the meat and continue to cook slowly.

Serve hot.

A lot of meat.

Herbs and spices of the marinade

Altogether now!

My Notes

I wasn't sure if I should cut the meat or not, but since she indicated "frying," I decided to cut the loin into individual servings.  It is possible she meant to fry the entire loin, keeping in mind that "frying" doesn't always mean to fast cook it in hot oil.

I had to guess on the spice quantities, and I know marinades are supposed to be strong in flavor.  I kept in mind that cloves "tend to be full of themselves," so I kept their quantity low in relation to the rest of the ingredients.  I had fresh bay leaves because of a cute little dwarf bay bush called "Little Ragu" that is now growing in my yard.  (It helps to find a foodie who works at the local nursery!)

When removing the meat from the marinade to cook, I pulled all the leaves off before putting the meat in the pan.  I didn't worry about the spices.  

For the first batch, I considered her directions to "add broth," which seemed to be another ingredient and not the liquid from the marinade.  I tried that, adding a little beef broth to the pan, just enough to bring the liquid level up to about 1/4 inch.  Then I realized that it would take a long, long time to get the food "almost dry."  I risked overcooking the meat.

So for the second batch I used just olive oil to slowly cook the meat.  When it appeared done, I noticed the pan was almost dry but, of course, the oil did not evaporate.  Perhaps I could have used less oil.

I had 16 slices of meat, so I cooked two batches of four in the Dutch oven and four in a skillet.  I didn't see any cooking time or result differences between the two pans.

I noticed that the meat released a lot of liquid into the pan while cooking, making the addition of broth unnecessary.

Done marinating

The Verdict

We weren't very hungry, so we split a piece of meat.  It was ... interesting.

We both noticed the fruity flavor right away.  I attribute that to the apple cider vinegar.  The spices were dominant, and I felt they were on the edge of being too strong.  It wasn't off-putting, but my guest taster asked, "What kind of meat is this?"

In other words, the spices and fruit flavors dominated each mouthful, and we couldn't really enjoy the taste of the pork.  He felt the meat was just a touch chewy; I thought it was fine.

My conclusion was that either I should not have cut the meat into slices or I should have marinated the slices for a shorter amount of time, perhaps just overnight.  I suspect that having the whole loin cooking in the Dutch oven for a long time (over low heat) would probably have allowed the food to be almost dry.  

There were no issues with the meat getting a chalky texture after three days in the marinade.  

So I will declare it a success, although I wasn't entirely thrilled with it.  

The leftovers were consumed in a variety of ways, and I think the strong flavor, while still there, was mellowed with time.  Sometimes I served the pork with a sauce. (Try making a passionfruit coulis and add some broth, or something similar with mulberry molasses.  Fruit with pork is always a winner with me.)  Sometimes I served it as it was but with butternut squash soup and toast.  Reheating the meat made it a little drier, but the sauce helped.  My guest taster would dunk the meat in the soup.  More success!

Attelets Sauce - An American Civil War recipe

Do you know what an attelet is?  I didn't.  I had to look it up.  Autocorrect wanted to change the word to "athlete," but I insisted I had spelled it correctly.  That taught me that an attelet is a small, metal skewer, often decorative and made of precious metals such as gold or silver.  Attelets are used to hold food, often hors d'oeuvres, to display it elegantly.

So now you know.  An attelet is basically a small, decorative metal spit used to show off food in a fancy way.

An attelet.  Click here for attribution.

I was preparing for a Civil War reenactment and looking through the 1833 cookbook for recipes that I could make as a demonstration item.  That is, I was cooking over charcoal while wearing a period outfit and talking to the public about what I was making.  I needed to be able to fix it in front of the public, with the exception of when I walked into the tent to get items from the ice chest.

This sauce looked interesting and tasty.  I didn't have metal attelets, but hey, we were in a war setting, so wooden skewers would have to do!

My plan was to make the sauce to serve with thinly sliced, grilled beef on skewers.  I did that and then made the recipe again at home for this post.

The recipe is from Mrs. N.K.M. Lee's The Cook's Own Book, page 182, in the sauce section, which is why the "________" is in the title.  Click here to see an 1854 reprint of her book.  

My Redaction

1 to 2 tablespoons each of finely chopped parsley, mushrooms, and shallots

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon flour

1 cup beef broth

1/4 teaspoon pepper

salt to taste

2 egg yolks, well beaten

1/2 pound thinly sliced beef

Sauce ingredients.

First, soak wooden skewers in water while preparing the sauce.  Cut the beef into 1-inch-wide strips and set aside.

Mix the mushrooms, shallots, and parsley and then sauté them in the butter over low heat until the shallots are translucent.  

Sprinkle the flour over the mixture (avoid lumps) and stir well.  Let it cook for 1 to 2 minutes.

Whisk in the broth, stirring it vigorously.

Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to make the mixture simmer.  Add the pepper and salt to taste. 

When the mixture thickens slightly, remove from the heat.  Add the yolks by pouring them in while stirring the broth briskly.

Once the yolks are thoroughly mixed, put the sauce back on the heat while stirring well to slightly cook the yolks.

Put the beef strips on the skewers and grill the meat.

Serve the skewers on a plate and the sauce in an open cup or bowl.  Dunk the beef in the sauce to eat.

Roughly equal parts.

The finished sauce.

Grilling the meat.

My Notes

At the reenactment, I didn't have parsley.  I aimed for roughly equal parts of shallots and mushrooms.  In both attempts, I used baby portabella mushrooms.

The idea is to make a roux with the butter and flour, then use the roux to thicken the broth.  The egg yolks make it even thicker and richer.

The broth I used had salt in it, so salt your sauce to taste.

The Verdict

Oh my, that is one good sauce.  At the reenactment, I walked around with the platter of skewers and a cup of sauce.  People used their fingers to pull the meat off the skewer and dunk it into the sauce, then pop the meat into their mouths.  You could see the sauce was thick enough to stick to the meat and not drip all over when transported to a mouth.

It was similarly thick when I made the sauce at home.  

Note the thick sauce.

The flavor was rich with shallot and mushroom flavors, enhanced by the savory umami of the beef broth.  The pepper added a nice bitter flavor, too.

Everyone in both attempts enjoyed it.  I had sauce left over from the reenactment, so I served it as a gravy over mashed potatoes, which was quite excellent.  At home, I used the extra gravy as a sauce over baked chicken thighs; this was also good.

I think the reenactment version was a bit tastier; I probably used more shallots.  I wasn't measuring except by visually comparing quantities.  I am usually moving quickly, too.  

Success!  Quite a wonderful success, really.  Make this sauce as it is easy and tasty.  

I think I would use bigger chunks of beef instead.  The very thin slices grilled quickly (a bonus, so the sauce didn't get cold or get overcooked) but they did get chewy.  I probably need to improve my grilling skills.

Costillas de puerco fresco con setas - Fresh pork ribs with mushrooms (a Pinedo recipe)

I found some pork baby back ribs on sale, so I took advantage of the deal and tried a Pinedo recipe that had been on my radar for a while.  I love pork and especially ribs!

The recipe is on page 88, Costillas de puerco fresco con setas.  

My Translation

Fresh pork ribs with mushrooms.

            Prepare the ribs as to grill them; but these are fried in unsalted fat or olive oil. They are put to fry in a frying pan, turning them several times and seasoning them with salt and pepper on both sides.

            They are removed from the pan when they are well browned; immediately these are put to fry in the same juice that has remained in the pan: a few mushrooms cut into rounds, with onion, parsley and well-chopped basil, a glass of white wine and half of hot water.

            The ribs are placed in the same dish and covered with the sauce.

My Redaction

3 pounds pork baby back ribs, cut into pieces that fit the Dutch oven

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

less than 1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 of a large onion

8 small portabella mushrooms, cleaned

1/8 cup finely minced fresh parsley

1/8 cup finely minced fresh basil

8 ounces white wine

4 ounces hot water

Preheat over medium low a Dutch oven that is big enough to fit the ribs.  Lightly sprinkle the ribs with the salt and pepper.  You may use more or less seasoning according to the ribs and your preferences.

Drizzle the oil in the pan and let heat a little.  Add the ribs to the pan and cook them slowly, turning them "several times" as needed to cook them through.  Don't rush this.

In the meantime, chop the onion into small pieces, but not finely chopped.  Remove the stems of the mushrooms and discard.  Slice the mushrooms into rounds if possible.  

When the ribs are cooked and browned, remove them from the Dutch oven and place on the serving dish.  To the juices and fat in the pan, add the onion, mushrooms, and herbs, and the water and the wine.  

Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer until the onions are transparent and the liquid is reduced.  Spoon the sauce over the ribs just before serving.

Ribs sprinkled with salt and pepper; beginning to cook.

Nearly done.

About this much of everything.  Or as you want!

What was leftover in the pan.

Beginning to sauté. 

Done!

My Notes

To "prepare the ribs as to grill them," Pinedo suggested on page 89 to remove the fat.  A person I knew whose father was butcher also recommended that you tear the membrane encasing the ribs (or sometimes on just one side) away from the meat.  The ribs I had did not need either technique.

I cut the ribs into three big chunks.  Afterwards I thought that I should have cut them into serving-sized portions, which I now recommend.

The Verdict

The ribs browned beautifully, and I checked their internal temperature before declaring them done.

I thought, while simmering the sauce, that I had added too much liquid.  I could have simmered it longer to reduce it, but I didn't, so there was more liquid than what I felt was "right."  When I spooned it over the ribs, most of the liquid rolled off the meat and onto the platter, but the important flavors stayed on top.

Ready to serve.  Note the liquid on the platter.

The dish made a lovely presentation: the steaming ribs and the sauce with its bits over the top.  I served it with steamed green beans dressed with a little butter, liquamen, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper; and a soft dinner roll.  And wine.  Don't forget the wine!

Served.  Yum.

My guest taster and I enjoyed the meal very much.  The ribs were tasty, and the sauce added flavors and texture that we don't normally associate with eating ribs.  Those flavors of onion, mushroom, and herbs complemented the meat quite well!

My only negative feedback is that I wanted the flavors to be stronger.  It could be that adding so much liquid diluted the flavors, and if I had reduced it more, they would have been better.  Or I could have added more herbs to really bump it up.  Perhaps use 6 ounces of wine and 3 ounces of water?

I also wanted more mushrooms.  I was tempted to put in a lot more at the beginning, but she indicated just a few.  I held back.

It wouldn't hurt to have a lot more sauce to put on the ribs.  I would have enjoyed some of the bits with each bite of meat.  

But still, I declare it a success.  We enjoyed the reheated leftovers later, without the extra liquid.  They were fine.  I still wanted more flavors, though!

Eggs Bourgeoise - An American Civil War recipe

Recently I participated in a Civil War reenactment as a cook.  I did my homework and found a cookbook from 1833, which was clearly still in use 30 years later.  How did I know that?  I had been sifting through Godey's Lady's Book, a popular magazine at the time, for relevant recipes (they called them "receipts") and realized that some of them were copied directly from the 1833 book.

It is also reasonable to believe that recipes from 30 years previous could still be in use when considering how people passed cookbooks through generations and how favorite recipes are recalled even without a written reminder.  

The book I used is called The Cook's Own Book, written by Mrs. N. K. M. Lee.  Click here to see an 1854 reprint of her book.  It is quite complete with advice on food items and their health benefits (or detriments) as well as a focus on confectionery and extra recipes from Eliza Leslie, born in the late 1700s and wrote many cookbooks and other works.  Click here to see Project Gutenberg's list of her books.

The recipe I tried is on page 70, called Eggs Bourgeoise.  It seemed like just the right thing to cook over charcoal to add to the group breakfast menu.

For this blog post, I tried it at home in a modern kitchen.  In my notes below, I'll comment on the changes I made for the reenactment.

My Redaction

1 tablespoon butter (more is okay)

4 large slices of sourdough bread

4 slices of swiss cheese

10 eggs, beaten with

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

(I forgot to use nutmeg)

Alas, no nutmeg.

Using a 9-inch diameter cast iron skillet, warm the butter over low heat until it melts.  Coat the bottom and the sides of the pan with the butter.   Having some extra butter in the bottom of the pan is a benefit.

Arrange the bread to cover the bottom of the pan, tearing the pieces as needed to fit.

Arrange the cheese to cover the layer of bread, tearing the pieces to fit.

Pour the eggs, salt, and pepper mixture over the bread and cheese.

Set the pan over low heat (I started at 3 of 10).  Allow to cook until eggs are puffed and firm and they pull away from the pan's sides, about 25 to 30 minutes.  

If the eggs smell "done" but are not fully set, turn the heat down to finish cooking.  Tilt the pan as needed to move the liquid eggs from the center to the sides.  

The eggs might settle after removing them from the heat.

Slice and serve (or use a big spoon to scoop out what you want instead of slicing into wedges).

Bread and butter

With cheese.

And eggs.  Notice how the cheese is floating.

My Notes

At the reenactment, I removed the crusts from the bread in case someone didn't like that.  I also used shredded mozzarella cheese instead of sliced swiss.  

At first I used 8 eggs but that did not look like enough, so I added 4 more eggs.  That was too much!  At first it fit in the pan but when the eggs started to puff, they almost overflowed the pan.  That is why I used 10 eggs at home.  

My charcoal was gentle enough at the reenactment.  At home, the stove setting of 3 seemed too high after 15 minutes, so I put it down to 1 of 10 to finish cooking.  I think 1 or 2 from the beginning would have been fine, although it might have taken longer to cook.  I don't know how long it took over charcoal.

Pretty!

The Verdict

I served it for breakfast, but honestly, it can be served as a luncheon or supper dish.

In both cases, it was good.  As in, "Wow, this tastes great!  I want more!" as a reaction from all who tried it in both locations.  

I noticed the bread and cheese floated in the eggs when I poured in the eggs at home than what I recall at the reenactment.  Not that it mattered or made any difference in the final product, just an observation.

It looked like the bread formed a sort of crust, which I believe protected the eggs from overcooking.  At the least it added bulk and a lovely chewy aspect to the dish.  (Except for the very middle of the home version, where something overcooked a little and it was harder to cut through the crust.)

The mozzarella cheese melted into the eggs as they cooked.  The swiss floated on top and melted across the cooked eggs.  Both worthwhile results.  

The amount of salt and pepper was just right.  I wish I had remembered the nutmeg!

It was a robust main dish, creamy and chewy and savory.  Success, both times.

The leftovers (at home) were good reheated, too.

If I didn't want quite so much, I would use a smaller pan to achieve the same results.  Just use enough bread to cover the bottom, a generous helping of cheese (shredded was easier, I thought), and fewer eggs.  Reduce the amount of seasoning.  Leave enough room for the eggs to puff.

You could also bake it in the oven, like a fritatta.

This is clearly a good meal for camping.

I think a fresh salsa would be good over the top.  Try it!

How to Judge Good Flour -- advice from Encarnación Pinedo

Today I am taking a different approach to my blog post.  It is the 15th of the month, so I am posting something from Pinedo's book, but instead of a recipe, I wanted to test her advice on how to know if the flour you are using is of good quality.

In case you aren't already aware, in 2021 I translated Encarnación Pinedo's 1898 book El Cocinero Español in its entirety, and I am trying out her recipes and advice on this blog.  

In her introduction, on page x, she wrote: 

Which I translated as:

            Flour, when it is good, is known by taking a handful of it in the hand and squeezing it tightly; if it compacts and unites in a mass, it is of the best quality and the mixture that is made of it will be soft, ductile, and elastic; while adulterated flour is much heavier than fine and laborious to knead. If it is tested as said above, it will not give the same result.

            Second--A small amount is taken and [with] the fingers are kneaded; if it is soft and flexible it is good, and if it is sticky and rough it is bad.

            Third--Put a little bit on the table and blow gently with your breath; if there are little piles on the table that have resisted the action of the breath, it is good, and if it is completely scattered, it is bad.

            Fourth--A thimbleful is taken in the palm of the hand and rubbed gently with the finger: if the flour flattens and is slippery, it is of inferior quality, and, on the contrary, if rubbing it feels rough in the hand as if it was fine sand, it is good.

I tried these tests and took pictures to show the results.  

Keep in mind that I expect my flour to be good.  We have the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 - and subsequent legislation - that requires food additives and adulterations to be reported, pushing businesses and manufacturers to sell us food we can rely on to be what the label says it is.  

This is so very different from what Pinedo, and the rest of the United States, experienced in 1898.  No one was held accountable for what they did to food, and adulteration with alternate ingredients and even poisonous additives was widespread.  Milk was "kept fresh" with embalming fluid; what was labeled as olive oil often contained no or little oil from olives; "strawberry" jam was made from apple pulp, sugar, red food coloring, grass seed, and strawberry flavoring; and more.  Manufacturers wanted to make money, so they cut costs wherever they could and didn't worry about the consequences.  

If your stomach can take it, take a look at Leon Landone's 1906 book Foods that are drugged.  (Click here for the link to it.)  Be astonished at all the food products, including baby food, that it lists.  Now when I see labels that use the word "pure," I have a better understanding of why that has been important.

So was my flour of good quality?  Keep in mind that proper labeling doesn't mean good quality, just that my flour wasn't mixed with chalk or Plaster of Paris.  It was worth the test.

Test #1

I took a handful of flour and squeezed it tightly.  

Before squeezing

After squeezing.

Uh oh.  My flour did not compact and unite into a mass.  It failed the first test.  

Test #2

I kneaded a little flour with my fingers.

She did not say to get it damp at all; I just used the flour from the bag.  It did not feel sticky and rough, but I was not sure it was "soft and flexible."

Test #3

I spread a little on the counter and gently blew on it.  

Before blowing

After blowing

If you look very carefully, you can see that some of the flour moved when I blew on it.  But very little.  I actually started blowing harder to get it to move, and I couldn't without making a big mess.  This was encouraging.

Test #4

I estimated a thimbleful into the palm of my hand, and I rubbed it with my finger.

Before rubbing

After rubbing

I think the rubbing flattened it, but it did not feel slippery at all.  It did feel like very fine sand.

The Verdict

While not every test gave me a clear result, I feel my flour was at least good quality and not adulterated.  I appreciated that she gave several tests so I could have options, otherwise the first test and maybe the second would have convinced me my flour was bad. 

What I used was a house brand flour, which may not have been as high quality as, say, a name brand.  Often house brands are made by the name brands but not labeled as such in order to reduce the price.  It would be informative to try these tests on other brands, especially the ones that advertise their high quality, and compare them.  

Success!  

Now I have to go clean all the flour off of my camera.  : )