4 Swedish dinners: #4 - Fläsklägg med rotmos

"Fläsklägg med rotmos" translates to "pig leg with mashed roots". Makes me realize why even Swedish gourmet restaurants normally use French to describe their dishes...

As unromantic as it sounds, it has a taste that goes straight to Sweden's agricultural past. It's a simple dish that really only requires time. About the only thing our modern world can improve on this dish is perhaps accessibility to fine ingredients.

I picked up a leg/hock of pork when I was at the market buying herring yesterday. This hock is from the only farm in Sweden raising Berkshire pigs. You pay a premium but they are fantastic:



You need a brined, non-smoked hock for this recipe. The butcher sawed the hock in two in order to cut down on the cooking time.

Once home, it was time to gather the ingredients:



Onions, whole allspice, thyme, whole white peppercorns, bay leaves, rutabagas, carrots, fingerling potatoes and the hocks.

Bring enough water to cover the hocks to a boil, add the hocks and skim. Add the onions, a carrot and the spices and leave it partially covered on a lively simmer:



Wait. Pour a beer and wait some more:



And wait some more. This hock took about 3 hours.

As soon as the bones begin to loosen from the flesh, it's time to start the "rotmos" or mashed roots. Start by taking a few cups of the cooking liquid from the hocks:



Bring to a boil and add the chopped rutabagas and carrots. Add water to cover, cover the pot and boil.



Add the potatoes after about 30 minutes (the carrots and rutabagas should be pretty soft):



When the potatoes soften, rice and mix with butter. Salt to taste.



Finally time to eat! Serve with sweet and strong mustard:







About the drinks: The beer is another medium lager from the same Stockholm brewery as the beer I had with "Biff Rydberg", day 1. The snaps is called "O.P. Andersson" and is quite traditional. It is flavored with caraway, dill and fennel and has a balanced flavor that contrasts well with the rich meat.

Thanks to everyone who has followed my four days of traditional Swedish dishes. It's been fun to do and fun to give a little back to LTHForum after a long period of reading and remembering/dreaming of the delicacies you all manage to discover. I'll soon be disappearing for approximately 5 weeks (Swedish paid vacations are very generous!) but look forward to reading any comments you all may have when I get back.

Bridgestone wrote:Thanks to everyone who has followed my four days of traditional Swedish dishes. It's been fun to do and fun to give a little back to LTHForum after a long period of reading and remembering/dreaming of the delicacies you all manage to discover. I'll soon be disappearing for approximately 5 weeks (Swedish paid vacations are very generous!) but look forward to reading any comments you all may have when I get back.

And I'll be eagerly awaiting more Swedish dinners. Ikea will never be the same

I must say, your series has made me yearn more for Europe, right now!, than anything I've read in years. And I'm not sure exactly what it is, other than the wonderful integration of commentary, simple and elegant food, and absolutely compelling photography.

Superb job, you made my heart, among other organs, quite simply ache.

Geo

Thank you, Geo!

Bridgestone,

Thanks again for another wonderful post. And it's nice to see my old friend the Swede, a.k.a rutabaga, make his return to the board.

Have a great five-week long paid vacation! Now that's civilisation!



Bon voyage,
A

Bridgestone wrote:You need a brined, non-smoked hock for this recipe.

Did you buy the hock brined or did you brine the hock yourself? Looks delicious, I may have a go in the very near future.

I was just thinking the same thing Gary.
Anyone know where to get unsmoked hocks? I'm guessing Peoria would be a good bet?

You can pick up vacuum-packed, pre-brined hocks at nearly every grocery store in Sweden.

This is not a complicated or nuanced brine here so I'm guessing that any simple, salty homemade brine would not only work for this but make great improvements.

Your question, Gary, makes me wonder why I've never brined these myself... Let us know if you decide to give it a shot!

My temptation would be to put the teeeeniest bit of pink salt in the brine. A bit of cured flavor couldn't hurt. But then, I'm most certainly NOT a purist in these things!

Geo

Geo wrote:My temptation would be to put the teeeeniest bit of pink salt in the brine. A bit of cured flavor couldn't hurt.Geo

Absolutely agree with you, Geo!

Hi,

If the cottage roll and pork shank are similar products, this brine might come close to emulating what you have.

Regards,

Great Stuff, C2!

I so totally missed it that you'd posted the brine recipe upthread on the cottage roll discussion. I will most definitely DO THIS!

[BTW, a Québecker buddy says that in NB and eastern Québec they use "salted riblets" and "salted jambonnneau" in exactly the same way as the brined cottage roll. Looks like Brigestone's hock might be similar... ]

Geo

Thanks again for another great visit to the Swedish kitchen! It looks terrific and do-able!

I was wandering through Ultra Foods an in what can only be described as kismet I ran across raw unsmoked hocks


the price was certainly right


they looked beautiful


these were not brined so they spent 2 days in salt and sugar


I didn't use any pink salt in the brine so after the simmer they came out a bit grey


The end result though turned out quite well. Using the porky stock to cook the root veg makes a huge improvement. A big knob of Plugra butter and a pinch of salt is all these need to make a great side.



Many thanks to Bridgestone! This is a really great meal that will be in regular rotation (next time I think I'll add the pink salt to the brine though).

Great work, zoid!

Glad you were able to remember an old post and do it some serious justice.