Stuffed pork neck, lazy way
The lovely thing about being keen on food and cooking is that there is no end to the things you can learn. Here I was, strolling down a suburban street, minding my own business, when I happened upon a butcher’s shop. I stopped to ponder on what appeared to be just another display of meat, only to spy a bundle neatly labelled ‘pork neck’.
I thought I’d try it, expecting it to be one of those long, slow cookers, so I nipped in. And lo and behold, I hear the butcher telling me, slowly and carefully, the several ways to cook this cut, none of which takes any time and effort.
‘Roast it whole,’ said Martin Schaad, the Swiss born and trained butcher. ‘Or cut it into slices and cook it in the pan like schnitzel. It will be beautifully tender.’
He spoke with a real and rare authority. In the fridge before him were all sorts of sausages and cooked meats. I had thoughts of pork neck, stuffed, so to speak, but was feeling lazy and took the lazy stuffer’s way out — a couple of knackwurst, the deliciously mild veal and pork sausage from Germany.
I took the casing from the knackwurst, rammed them into the pork neck, put the lot into the oven and let it bake furiously for about 40 minutes, until the pork was just done. Once point to note about tender pings. Make sure you’re getting the females of the breed, and never, never, never the males.
‘Only the females,’ said the butcher.
‘Why?’ I asked.
‘The females,’ he said, ‘never have that, that, I have to use the word, pissy smell when they’re cooked. Only the males.’
1 pork neck, boned by your butcher: 1kg will serve six — The neck roasts beautifully because it is not completely lean. There is fat through it. The leg is never as good, nor the loin. They become dry with cooking. Not the neck.
2 knackwurst, or equivalent cooked sausage, skinned
2 cups good quality port
salt
black pepper
1
With a steel, force an opening through the pork and stuff in the sausage, being as delicate as you can. Tie up the pork, tightly but gently.
2
Put the oven on full blast. Brown the pork on top of the stove until the pan is sizzling. Pour in half the port and put the pork and all in the oven.
3
It will take about 40 minutes. After 20 minutes, check to ensure the port has not evaporated and add the rest, pouring it over the top of the pork.
4
Remove from oven and set aside in a warm place. There should be enough port left for a sauce. If not, add more and reduce vigorously, taking up any sediment left in the pan. If there is sauce remaining, remove any obvious fat from the pan and reduce the rest until it thickens a little. Season.
5
Slice the pork and pour the sauce over the top. It also makes for a delicious sandwich, cold, for lunch the next day.
WINE: I quite like Rhine riesling with pork. I have the kind of insides that make whale noises after a good feed of pork — riesling is a foil for the pork’s richness.