Medieval Meals: Cormary: Roast Loin of Pork with Red Wine

"I cook with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food." -W. C. Fields

Ok, I'll admit. W.C. Fields was nowhere close to a medieval presence.
b. 1880
d. 1946

But the quote was too good to resist.

The red wine in this recipe adds a subtle complexity to the pork and mingles beautifully with the spices.

In fact, the marinade would wonderfully season a beef roast as well. 

So raise your glass to cooking with wine as the cooks in the Middle Ages did!

A+ for authenticity. 

There it is, my friends. Behold the deliciously marinated pork. Though the red wine gave the chops an interesting color, the taste was phenomenal. I made four of them. 

Three were gone in less than 20 minutes. 

Though not as cool as a convocation of eagles (yes, that is the collective noun), here are our delicious ingredients: 

4 pork loin chops, equaling about 3 lbs, red wine, broth, garlic, coriander, caraway, pepper, and salt.

In a glass dish, make a marinade with the wine, garlic, coriander, caraway, and pepper. Since we are using pork chops instead of one large roast, there is no need to tie them.

Season the sides of the chops with salt. Place the chops in the marinade and soak for a few hours or overnight. 

(I marinated them overnight and while the flavor was spectacular, the color was odd. It's your call on what is more important.)

The next day, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Roast the pork for about an hour, basting frequently.
When you baste, be sure to take deep breaths of that tasty aroma. There's nothing like it.

When the chops are done, remove them from the pan and let sit in a warm place, while you make the sauce. (I turned off the oven, covered the chops with tin foil, and placed them back in the oven.)

Over medium-low heat, bring the pan juices to a boil and add the broth. Return to a boil, let reduce a bit, and taste for seasoning. Serve with the meat.

(The picture is of unfortunate quality, but the broth is next to the pan.)

Be prepared for people lining up for this flavorful twist on the traditional pork chop!

Note: My Iowan Fiance still contends that these would be enormously better with "Iowa chops". 

I guess those Middle Ages cooks and I will never know.

Cormary: Roast Loin of Pork with Red Wine

Primary source from: 

Constance B. Hieatt and Sharon Butler, eds., Curye on Inglysch: Five MS collections of fourteenth-fifteenth-century recipes (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), CI. IV. 54.

Modern recipe from: Odile Redon, Francoise Sabban, and Silvano Serventi, The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy, trans. Edward Schneider (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1998), 107-108.

Primary Source

Cormarye. Take colyaundre, caraway smale grounden, powdour of peper and garlec ygrounde, in rede wyne; medle alle this togyder and salt it. Take loynes of pork rawe and fle of the skyn, and pryk it wel with a knyf, and lay it in the sawse. Roost it whan thou wilt, & kepe that that fallith therfro in the rostyng and seeth it in a possynet with faire broth, & serue it forth with the roost anoon.

Modern Recipe

Ingredients

1 loin roast of pork, bone-in, a generous 3lbs (I used 4 pork loin chops)

1 cup good red wine

scant 1/2 cup broth

4 large cloves garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon ground coriander seeds

1 teaspoon ground caraway seeds

1/3 teaspoon ground pepper

salt

Preparation Instructions

In a glass or other nonreactive ovenproof dish, make a marinade with the wine, garlic, coriander, caraway, and pepper. Tie the roast neatly, pierce it all over the the point of a knife, and season with salt. Place the roast in the marinade, turning it to coat all over. Marinate for a few hours or overnight, turning occasionally.

Preheat the oven 350 degrees F. Roast the pork for about 90 minutes (if using chops, roast for 60 minutes), basting frequently. When it is done, remove the roast from the pan and let it rest in a warm place while you make the sauce.

Over medium-low heat, bring the pan juices to the boil and add the broth. Return to the boil, taste for seasoning, and serve with the meat.