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Leg of Pork Stuffed
Make deep incisions in the meat parallel to the bone, trim it so as to leave the skin longer than the flesh; then boil some potatoes, and when they are done, mash them with a piece of butter, cayenne pepper and salt, an onion finely chopped, and a little rubbed sage.
With this dressing fill the incisions, draw the skin down and skewer it over to keep the dressing from falling out. Season the outside of the meat with salt, cayenne pepper and sage.
Roast it slowly; when done, pour the gravy in a pan, skim off the fat and add some browned flour wet in a little cold water, and boil up once. Serve with apple or cranberry sauce.--Mrs. A. M. D.
A fresh (uncured) leg of pork, pocketed and packed with seasoned mashed potato. The method is sound; what the original leaves out is size, temperature and time.
- What cut to buy"Leg of pork" here means a fresh ham, not a cured one. Ask a butcher for a bone-in fresh ham, skin on, or a half leg of 6-8 lb, which serves 8-10. Skin-on pork is a special order in most supermarkets.
- Roast it slowly means 325FRoast it slowly means about 325F -- the recipe gives no temperature. About 325F in a modern oven is a reasonable reading of a slow roast, roughly 25-30 minutes per pound for a bone-in leg. Cook to an internal temperature of 145F at the thickest point away from the bone for sliceable meat, or take it to 185-195F if you want it to pull.
- The skin flapTrimming the flesh back so the skin overhangs, then drawing it down and skewering, is the hinge of the recipe: it is what keeps the potato stuffing from washing out. Metal skewers or butcher's twine both work. Score the skin in narrow lines before roasting if you want crackling.
- Incisions, not a single cavityDeep slits cut parallel to the bone with a thin boning knife, then pushed open with the fingers. Pipe the stuffing in with a bag or push it in with a spoon handle; forcing cold, stiff potato into a tight slit will tear the meat.
- Rubbed sageRubbed sage is the dried leaf crumbled to a fluff, lighter and less concentrated than ground sage. About a tablespoon for the stuffing and a teaspoon for the exterior is a reasonable reading; substitute two teaspoons of ground sage if that is what you have.
- CayenneCayenne varies considerably in heat from jar to jar. Start with a quarter teaspoon in the potatoes and the same on the surface, and taste the stuffing before it goes in.
- Browned flourFlour toasted dry in a skillet or a low oven until nut-brown. It thickens perhaps half as strongly as raw flour, so allow about two tablespoons slaked in cold water per cup of skimmed pan juices. Boiling it up once is enough; browned flour needs no further cooking out.
- RestingThe original assumes the carve happens immediately. Give a leg this size 20-30 minutes under loose foil before slicing, or the juices you have just turned into gravy will end up on the board.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1879) was compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree from contributions by named housewives, and this initialed entry is typical of the book's method: a practical procedure passed cook to cook, with quantities left to judgment. Stuffing a fresh leg through slits rather than a cavity is a technique found in British cookery of the period, and the potato-onion-sage filling reads as a sage-and-onion forcemeat with potato standing in for breadcrumbs. Fresh pork was largely seasonal in the pre-refrigeration South, tied to the winter hog-killing, when much of the animal was cured for the smokehouse; a roasted fresh leg would most likely have been a killing-time dish. The apple or cranberry sauce at the end reflects the familiar pairing of rich pork with a sharp fruit accompaniment in Anglo-American cooking.