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Pork Unococto

Vinidarius 21–22 · c. 500 AD · Roman

Latin

porcello unocoto: porcellum accipies, ornauis, quoque in oleo et liquamen. cum quoquitur adicies in mortario piper ruta baca lauri liquamen, passu siue carenu, uino uetus; simul omnia teres. temperas et traicies in patinam heneam. mittis eum [XXII] porcellum eo iure, perquoque; cum autem leuas, amulo oblicabis et sic in uas transfers et inferes.

English

Pig unocoto: take the pig, dress it, and cook it in oil and fish sauce. As it cooks, grind together in the mortar pepper, rue, bay berry, fish sauce, raisin wine or reduced must, and old wine; grind it all together. Season it and pour it into a bronze pan. Put the pig into that sauce and cook it through; and when you take it up, thicken with starch, then transfer it to a serving dish and serve.

Pork braised and then finished in its own sauce of wine, raisin wine, and spices, thickened with starch. Unocoto is obscure — likely a corruption — so it's left untranslated here rather than guessed at.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 kg boneless pork shoulder
  • 4 Tb fish sauce
  • 2 Tb olive oil
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 3 bay berries, crushed
  • 1 tsp dried rue
  • 120 ml passum
  • 120 ml white wine
  • 1 Tb starch, made into slurry

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 160°C (325°F).
  2. Place the pork shoulder into a dutch oven. Pour over the olive oil and half of the fish sauce, then place covered in the oven for 45 minutes.
  3. While the pork cooks, prepare the sauce. First crush the bay leaves, black pepper, and dried rue in a mortar and pestle. Combine in a bowl with the passum, wine, and remaining fish sauce.
  4. Once the pork has cooked for 45 minutes, remove from the oven and pour over the sauce. Return to the oven, covered, to cook for another 45 minutes, or until the pork is fork tender.
  5. Remove the pork shoulder from the dutch oven while retaining the sauce. Allow the pork shoulder to rest, covered loosely in foil, for a few minutes, and then carve.
  6. While the pork shoulder rests, add the starch slurry to the dutch oven. Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer until it thickens. Pour the sauce over the pork shoulder and serve.