"Cormarye" - a delicious C.14th Pork Roast with wine & spices

Somewhere back in the deep, dark depths of my online life resides the recipe for Cormarye, the medieval cook's solution to bland pork roast. Pig is one of those meats that when it's good it's very, very good, and when it's bad it's as interesting as a Yanni concert. True, this dish tastes even more fantastic with a good quality cut, but it's also notable for its ability to rescue poor quality pork from the doldrums and raise it into something you aren't ashamed to present for Sunday dinner.

Recently I did three 90 seconds shorts for Optomen Television's "Market Kitchen" daytime TV show, and this recipe starred in one of those shorts. So rather than forcing viewers to search it out, here again is the recipe:

Cormarye
Original Text from The Forme of Cury, C.14th English:
Take Colyaundre, caraway smale grounden, powdour of peper and garlec ygrounde, in rede wyne; medle alle [th]ise 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 [th]ou wilt, & kepe [th]at [th]at fallith [th]erfro in the rostyng and see[th] it in a possynet with faire broth, & serue it forth wi[th] the roost anoon.

Modern Redaction:
3 lb/1.5 kg boneless, skinned Pork Loin Roast*
1/2 bottle Red Wine
1/2 c canned Chicken Broth or Stock
1/2 cup Water
1-2 cloves crushed Garlic
1 tsp ground Coriander Seed*
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/4 tsp ground Caraway Seed
Coriander Leaf (optional)

1. Mix together the spices, seasoning, garlic and wine.
2. Prick the skin of the meat and add to the sauce. I usually have the butcher remove the fat layer beforehand.
3. Leave to marinate for a minimum of an hour. I usually leave it overnight in the fridge, and then it is sure to invigorate even the blandest pork cut!
4. Preheat oven.*
5. Put in a roasting tray and roast until done. Use your favorite cookbook to get time and temperature right.
6. When the meat is roasted, take sauce and drippings from the roasting pan, add the chicken broth and water, and simmer briefly to make a sauce
7. Slice the roast, pour over sauce, and serve.
8. It's especially nice with a garnish of chopped fresh Coriander leaf.

Notes:
*This is a large amount for four, but a piece of pork much less than 3 pounds/ 1.36 kg won't roast properly. So make it all, and have left-overs.
*Don't leave out the caraway because you are afraid it will taste like rye bread. And don't leave out the coriander seed either - they make it taste wonderful.
*Preheating the oven to above the roasting temperature sears the meat nicely and makes sure it doesn't dry out.

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Bibliography:
HIEATT, Constance B. & BUTLER, Sharon. (transcription) ANONYMOUS. "Curye on Inglysch" (includes 'The Forme of Cury'); London, Oxford Early English Text Society, 1985. Pg.109, #54.

Comments

[Jeanne]

Thanks for that - I love reading the original recipes. Sounds like a really interesting dish too, and the sauce on its own sounds like a winner BBQ marinade!