Sweet pickled pork cottage roll, it's a Canadian favorite

Hi,

A friend has one in her freezer ready to hand off to me next week. From reading around, I saw it described as the pork equivalent of corned beef. Is this about right?

A Canadian from birth is moving to Colorado sometime soon. She was pleased as punch, I found how to make peameal bacon. She has not yet tried it, but the recipe I prepared reminded other Canadians of it. I am keeping my fingers crossed it will meet her expectations.

Meanwhile, she is hoping I dig up how to make a sweet pickled pork cottage roll. I find many recipes on what to with it once it is cured, just not how to cure it. I am wondering if the comment on corned beef may be my big hint on what to do.

Does anyone know how a pork cottage roll is cured?

Thanks!

Regards,

Speaking of the Devil, I may have found a recipe:

Cottage Roll Brine
(Basic Sweet Brine for One Gallon)

1 gallon of water
1 cup Kosher salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp of Cure # 1 (pink salt) per 5 pounds of meat

From here you can customize it to your own taste, or use the following as a start:

1 tbsp. allspice
1 tbsp. juniper berries
1 tbsp. whole corriander seed
1 tbsp. whole black pepper
1 tbsp whole cloves
5 whole bay leaves
(alternately, you can use 5 tbsp. of pickling spice instead of the above spice combination)

This is brined for 5-8 days. If I did this I would consult the Charcuterie book by Ruhlman, to see how the cure proportions are right for a ham and corned beef.

Regards,

Not Quebecker I don't think, sounds more Ontarian or Nova Scotian. Also sounds TASTY! Let us know if/when you try it, C2.

Geo

Have not really heard of it in Ontario either. Will look for it next week and report back.

Jyoti

Hi,

I finally had a day cool enough where a long simmered meal was welcome. I pulled the Sweet Pickled Pork Cottage Roll from the freezer and into a pot for simmering. This Cottage Roll was a gift from a Canadian who left her homeland almost 50 years ago. Cottage Rolls is high on her list of foods missed. Yet she finds them scarcer to locate now than before.


Wrapped frozen Sweet Pickle Pork Cottage Roll by cal222, on Flickr


unwrapped Sweet Pickle Pork Cottage Roll by cal222, on Flickr

This is a cured raw pork shoulder bound together with a netting. According to the package instructions, I added cloves, garlic, peppercorns and a bayleaf to the simmering water. Depending on weight, it simmers 30-40 minutes per pound. It is finished cooking when it reaches an internal temperture of 160 degrees, though mine was pulled at 170.

My friend typically finishes her Cottage Roll by glazing with brown sugar and roasting in the oven. I treated my Cottage Roll as a New England boiled dinner by cooking carrots, potatoes and cabbage in the cooking liquid. I usually pull the meat out to stay warm in oven, while cooking the vegetables. The netting binding the meat was quite elastic. I found it was stretching when I attempted to cut it off. I found it easier to unwrap by rolling it off the cooked meat.


Sweet Pickle Pork Cottage Roll by cal222, on Flickr

Cottage Roll may look like ham, it is a cured without any smoke (or liquid smoke) finish associated with ham. The use of fattier pork shoulder, when cut into it has a feel and look like corned beef. Unlike corned beef, it does not shrink if simmered at too high a temperature. There was little to no shrinkage.

I cooked the leftovers this evening like an Irish Colcannon topped with cubed Cottage Roll reheated in a frying pan.


Sweet Pickle Pork Cottage Roll Colcannon by cal222, on Flickr

I'll likely experiment in curing my own Cottage Roll sometime this winter. I will make a twin as a return gift to my friend.

Meanwhile I learned more about this roll from this site here.

Regards,

Looks good, Cathy2!

It doesn't look miles different from the Swedish style boiled pig knuckle I posted a few years back. However, I can't say that there is any sweetness in the Swedish preparation. Could you taste any in yours?

Hi,

Thanks, at least visually it is quite similar.

There was no detectable sweetness, though it wasn't sour or tart either. It is a ham-like experience without any smoke, it has a freshness I don't associate with ham. This freshness may really be a smokeless cured pork cut without the drying associated with smoking.

Regards,

C2--

I cured a pork loin recently, using only pink salt, no smoke. It ended up incredibly sweet-porky, and juicy. I wonder if that's what they're doing here? You can buy fresh ham--unsmoked & uncured--in any decent Montréal supermarket pretty much any day of the year. I wonder if folks are curing their own? I might have to try that when I go back home after this semester... hmmmm.

Geo

I live in Ontario and my granny showed me how to make scallop potatoes with it. The taste is totally amazing.
slice your potatoes paper thing..slice your meat up.
fill bottom the pan with potatoes..then sprinkle flour..then cover in meat...keep going till pan is full.
then fill with can 2% milk...just so you can see it.
I always make a big roast pan full...I use a hole 10 pound bag of potatoes..and a hole cottage roll.
Left overs are even better, fry it up in a pan..mmmmmmmm

http://www.practicallyedible.com/edible ... ttage-roll

thats what a cottage is..and how they make it