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Pork, Boiled
Fresh pork may be boiled like other meat. It should be small and lean or it will be found too rich. Let the water boil, and then put in the meat, with some carrots and turnips, an onion, and a stalk or two of celery; add a morsel of salt, skim as needed, and simmer all the time, adding more salt near the end. A bunch of herbs (see BOUQUET GARNI) will improve the meat considerably. The time must be apportioned to the age and thickness of the meat. A leg may take twenty to thirty minutes per pound, while a belly may need only about fifteen minutes per pound. Send to table with a nice sauce, such as celery, onion, or tomato; vegetables, such as carrots, turnips, or parsnips, or a puree of split peas or peas pudding.
A plain Victorian method for simmering fresh (uncured) pork, and one that hangs entirely on temperature control: the pot should never actually boil once the meat is in.
- Boil, then simmerThe water is brought to a boil only to seize the surface; from then on it should sit at a bare tremble, around 180-190F, with the surface barely moving. A rolling boil for two hours will squeeze the muscle fibres and leave the leg dry and stringy despite the liquid.
- Timings are long by modern standardsTwenty to thirty minutes per pound produces pork cooked well past modern doneness. Current guidance is 145F internal for whole cuts with a three-minute rest; a boneless leg will reach that well before the stated time, though a simmered joint of this kind is usually taken further, to 160-165F, for a sliceable texture. Use a thermometer rather than the clock.
- "Small and lean"Modern commercial pork is already far leaner than the 1890s animal, so this instruction takes care of itself. A 3-4 lb boneless fresh leg (fresh ham) or a rolled belly is the right scale for a domestic pot.
- Fresh pork, not curedThe entry means uncured meat. Anything sold as gammon, ham or salt pork needs soaking and different handling; substituting it here will give a badly oversalted broth.
- Salt at the endThe recipe adds only a morsel of salt at the start and corrects the seasoning near the end. The liquid concentrates as it simmers, so heavy early seasoning risks an oversalted broth. Salt to taste once the meat is nearly done.
- Bouquet garniThe usual bundle is parsley stalks, thyme and a bay leaf, tied with string or in muslin; the recipe cross-references the book's own BOUQUET GARNI entry. Add it with the root vegetables.
- The vegetables are aromatics, not the garnishCarrot, turnip, onion and celery simmered for two hours will collapse. Cook fresh carrots, turnips or parsnips separately in some of the strained broth if you want them on the plate.
- Save the liquidThe strained cooking broth is the natural base for the celery or onion sauce suggested, and for the split-pea puree or pea pudding, which is the traditional partner and takes about an hour and a half of its own.
- YieldA 3-4 lb joint serves six to eight, with leftovers that slice cleanly once cold.
Boiled fresh pork with pease pudding is an old English farmhouse pairing, and the split-pea accompaniment in the last line is the tell: dried peas and pork were the winter staples of a household that killed a pig in autumn. The warning that the meat should be "small and lean or it will be found too rich" reflects the pigs of the period, bred for fat rather than lean muscle; the long per-pound times reflect a period when undercooked pork was genuinely feared, Trichinella spiralis having been described in 1835 and its link to human disease established around 1860, and widely publicised thereafter.