Braised Pork with Fir

A little story before we get to the recipe.  I've been struggling a bit lately with spice profiles.  All my recipes seem to taste similar.  Too many of the spices and herbs I am used to using would have to be imported to Viking Age Scandinavia.  Hmmmm.  So, what could VA people flavor their food with, that would actually be readily available?  My answer tonight was needles from a fir tree.  Specifically, because of where I live, Douglas Fir.  I was very wary of this, but it turned out delicious. Okay, onward to the recipe.  I used a large, heavy iron pan with a lid for this. If you are cooking it modernly, you'll need something that can do both on the burner and in the oven.  

Ingredients:

some fat or oil (bacon fat would be great, or any oil you can get HOT)

1 medium size pork roast (maybe 2-3 lbs?)

1 large onion, chop fine

1 large carrot

2 stalks celery

water

salt

a pinch of ground, roasted cumin

about 6 inches of a fir branch, with the needles broken to release the oils

1 TBS honey

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1 TBS prepared mustard (so, whole and ground mustard seed, vinegar, and a little water)

In a large, heavy pan, I put the oil and turned it up to almost high.  When it started to smoke just a little, I added the pork roast and browned it on two sides before adding the onion (finely chopped).  When the onion was done, I added about 4 cups of water (didn't measure, enough to cover more than half the height of the roast).  To the liquid, I added the celery and carrot, both of which I had broken up into big chunks. I added the rest of the ingredients (cumin, fir, honey, vinegar, mustard), and put on the lid.  As soon as it came to a boil, I transferred the whole thing to a 350F oven.  We tested it at about 1.5-2 hours later, and it was done! 

I pulled out the pork and the carrots, and we tasted it all.  At this point I had been VERY wary with both the fir and the vinegar, I ended up adding more of both to the "gravy".  I boiled down the liquid for another 20 minutes while we munched on the pork and seasoned to taste with more salt.  We ended up eating this with bread, but I think it would also go great with some cooked whole grain. Let me tell you, a super thin slice of the pork, on a thick layer of the onion-y gravy on top of some nice bread was fantastic.  

Now I am trying to figure out what else I can flavor the foods with.  Hmmm.  Or what other foods I can flavor with fir needles, because this was really good! If you go light on the spices, this is "just" a nice pork dish.  If you season it more, then it is an outstanding gravy that we were both sopping up ;) 

This version used lees

Pork Braised in Lees

modern recipe first! I used an enameled cast iron dutch oven. Take a small pork roast, put small holes in, place chopped garlic in the holes. Rub with salt. Heat smoked butter quite hot in the pan, brown the roast on all sides quickly. While it is browning, add additional onions and garlic to the pan. Add beer and yeast to fill pan half-way full (I used unfiltered Heffewisen). Into this, add some carrot chunks and celery leaves, and a 1 foot branch's worth of Doug Fir needles (could easily take more). When liquid is boiling, put a lid on the pan and put the whole thing in a 350 oven. Test temperature of pork, when done to your likeness, remove, let rest, and slice. Serve with roasted carrots.

VA equipment recipe.

Over the hot part of the fire, put the grill. Sear the meat quickly on all sides, then put it into a clay pot. Fill with other ingredients, and put a metal or ceramic lid on the pot. Bury the pot in the coals, keeping tightly lidded.

Also excellent with fermented veg as a condiment (or, mustard), we like a combination of lactofermented garlic, kale, and carrots.