Try a little tenderness…pork roast with vinegar & bay leaves
Otis Redding was 26 when he died on December 10, 1967. He was on his way to Madison with his band the Bar-Kays when his small plane crashed into the cold water of Lake Monona. Otis and 6 others died in the crash. It’s merely a sick twist of fate that his opening act for that show was suppoed to be a group called The Grim Reapers. I drive by that lake every day and I often think of Otis, his incredible talent, and the great music he left behind. He’s best known for his song Dock of the Bay, but you might not know that he wrote Respect. Aretha did a good job with it but when Otis sings Respect, he owns it. My favorite Otis songs are the soulful and romantic Try a Little Tenderness and I’ve Been Loving You.
I promised to follow a recipe once a week this year and I’m trying to stick to it. I gotta tell you, it’s killing me. For one thing there is absolutely no standard when it comes to meat cuts. One butcher might call a pork shoulder roast a pork butt, or maybe a boston butt, or maybe just a pork roast…there is absolutely no standardization. I dug around in my freezer for a pork shoulder roast and all I could turn up was a “pork roast”. It didn’t have the shape of a shoulder roast and it didn’t have the shape of a loin…it was sort of in between. I decided, after much debate with GH, that I would just treat it like a shoulder roast.
I knew I was going to turn to Marcella Hazan’s Essential’s of Classic Italian Cooking for the recipe since it came highly recommended by my friend Lisa. I checked the index for pork recipes and decided to go with roast pork with vinegar and bay leaves. I had all the ingredients including my own homemade red wine vinegar. It’s from a vinegar mother that I got about 15 years ago from my friend Francesca. I’m sure she’s had it for years…who knows how long its actually been around. Every once in awhile I top it off with wine and white vinegar and let it steep…it’s a tasty .
The contrast of the acidy vinegar and the bite of the bay leaves and pepper with the rich pork was seriously perfect. But I must confess that I didn’t enjoy following the recipe, actually I found it to be an enormous pain in the ass, even though it was super simple and it turned out exquisite. However, it did free my brain up to be creative elsewhere. I made a rosemary foccacia and garlic green beans to go with this lovely porky pile of meat. It was a great meal, especially for a Tuesday. The dessert I made was a total improve riff, you can see and read about at Accidental Hedonist…check it out because it was fabulous, quick, and easy.
Marcella Hazan’s Roast Pork with Vinegar and Bay Leaves
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2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 pounds pork roast
salt
1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
3 bay leaves
½ cup good red wine vinegar
Choose a heavy pot that the roast will fit in snugly. Put it on a burner over medium heat and add the butter and vegetable oil. Melt the butter but don’t allow it to brown. Once it foams add the meat and brown well on all sides, turning it to get good browning everywhere. Turn the burner down to medium low and salt the meat. Crush the peppercorns with a meat mallet and add them, the bay leaves and the vinegar. Loosen any crusty bits from the bottom of the pot, bring the liquid up to a simmer and then cover the pot tightly and let it simmer for 2 to 3 hours. Occasionally lift the lid and prod the meat with a fork to check the tenderness and to turn the meat. Put the lid back on the pot.
When the roast is tender remove it from the pan, keep it warm, and let it rest. Take the juices left in the pan and skim the excess fat from the top. Add ½ cup of water, loosen all the crusty bits with a spoon and turn up the heat and reduce the liquid. Slice the meat and serve it with the reduced pan juice.
Enjoy some Otis…
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16 Responses to “Try a little tenderness…pork roast with vinegar & bay leaves”
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I love Otis Redding! He’s responsible for so many songs that most people attribute to others.
I need to make a roast sometime soon.
You and I use the same OXO measuring cups. Aren’t they great? I love being able to read the amount from the top.
And the roast sounds good, too.
Well if it’s possible I’m probably even worse at following recipes than you are, but I love the sound of this one!
Tasty Otis clip; gotta Respect the recipe or A Change Is Gonna Come, Knock On Wood.
and the Grim Reapers later became…..Cheap Trick
Brilynn, isn’t that a shame too.
Kalyn, I’ve never taken well to instructions.
Barry, amen!
Andy, I didn’t know that!!! I love Cheap Trick…brings back memories of my youth.
I knew I already loved you, but now I love you even a little bit more. Otis is a personal hero of mine. Do you have the recording where he sings Respect and before he does says “A girl stole this from me, but I’m gonna sing it anyway”?
Otis and pork… a little slice of heaven indeed.
Hi Vanessa,
My name is Shannon and I’m the editorial assistant at Foodbuzz.com. I am very impressed with the quality of your posts and to that end, I’d like to invite you to be a part of our newly launched Foodbuzz Featured Publisher program. I would love to send you more details about the program, so if you are interested, please email me at Shannon@foodbuzz.com.
And I have to say that your foccacia speaks to me. Something about that picture is so pure and artistic, maybe the angle? The lighting? Anyway, I know what I’m baking this week. =)
Cheers!
Shannon Eliot
Editorial Assistant, Foodbuzz.com
shannon@foodbuzz.com
Mollie, thanks for the love! I saw that clip on you-tube when I was tracking this one down…what a guy.
Amen! Otis and roast - best blog post ever!
Sorry, forgot to let you know that you’ve been tagged. Please check out Black.Salt for details.
I think I told you when you were in London that the best day of my life (apart from the birth of my boys) was on March 17th 1967 when I went to Finsbury Park Astoria to see Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Booker T. & The MGs, Eddie Floyd, Arthur Conley and Carla Thomas.
The saddest day of my life was December 10 of that year. I stayed home on Monday 11th because I was too shocked to work. I still have “Tribute To A King” on 45 vinyl and a video tape of the Finsbury Park concert. Even though my sons were born two decades after his death, they are both seriously into soul and have extensive download collections of Otis tracks.
One of these days the boys and I will come over to visit you and we’ll take a trip to Lake Monona. They are also my favourite two tracks, btw. Happy cooking.
wow…this was such a great pork recipe. I tried to make it just like the picture. hahah!!
Thanks for the recipe!
Celine, thank you so much! I’ll get to the tag soon, thanks for thinking of me.
Mike, you know I was thinking of you when I wrote this…you should have your own blog now that Trig is across the pond. Oh yes, do come for a visit!
Jordan, thanks for reading.
No time to blog Vanessa - too busy getting my house ready for sale. Once I’ve flogged the mansion I’ll be able to afford to bring the boys to Wisconsin. See you there.
Mike, flog that mansion then we’ll meet up.