Pork Cheese is a traditional British recipe, based on Mrs Beeton's recipe of 1861, for a classic dish of cold pork mixed with pork fat, herbs and spices that's packed into a mould, covered with gravy, oven baked and then allowed to cool before slicing and serving. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Pork Cheese.
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This is a traditional British recipe redacted from the redoubtable Mrs Beeton's 1861 volume Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, the classic Victorian cookbook.
Original Recipe
PORK CHEESE (an Excellent Breakfast Dish).
799. INGREDIENTS.—2 lbs. of cold roast pork, pepper and salt to taste, 1 dessertspoonful of minced parsley, 4 leaves of sage, a very small bunch of savoury herbs, 2 blades of pounded mace, a little nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoonful of minced lemon-peel; good strong gravy, sufficient to fill the mould.
Mode.—Cut, but do not chop, the pork into fine pieces, and allow 1/4 lb. of fat to each pound of lean. Season with pepper and salt; pound well the spices, and chop finely the parsley, sage, herbs, and lemon-peel, and mix the whole nicely together. Put it into a mould, fill up with good strong well-flavoured gravy, and bake rather more than one hour. When cold, turn it out of the mould.
Time.—Rather more than 1 hour.
Seasonable from October to March.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
1kg cold roast pork
pork fat
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
1 dessert spoon parsley, minced
4 sage leaves, finely chopped
1 small bunch of savoury herbs, finely chopped
1/4 tsp ground mace
freshly-grated nutmeg, to taste
1/2 tsp finely-grated lemon zest
strong gravy
Method:
Cut the pork into fine pieces (do not chop) then mix in 250g pork fat to every 1kg of lean meat. Season the mixture with salt and black pepper then mix in the mace and add nutmeg to taste. Finally mix in the herbs and lemon zest.
Mix thoroughly then pat the mixture into a mould and fill up with strong gravy. Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 180°C and bake for about 70 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely then turn out of the mould.
