Recipe: Pork Cottage Roll
Need a delicious dinner? Enjoy this cottage roll with carrots, potatoes, onions, and cabbage.
Photo by Susan Zutautas
What Is a Pork Cottage Roll?
A pork cottage roll is made from pork shoulder. It's cured in a brine made with water, salt, sugar, sodium erythorbate, sodium tripolyphosphate, and sodium nitrite. It's covered in a string mesh that holds it together while the meat cooks. Basically, it's a pickled boneless pork shoulder roast.
Preparing a Pork Cottage Roll
There are various ways to cook a cottage roll. It can be smoked, boiled, or baked. Another way to cook the meat is to first boil it for an hour, remove it from the pot, and then brush the meat with a sauce. You then bake it for half an hour in the oven.
Personally, I like to boil mine as if I were making a corned beef and cabbage dinner.
Delicious!
If you are familiar with and like the taste of peameal bacon (or Canadian bacon), you'll like cottage roll. It is not as lean as peameal, but is still delicious. As far as the texture goes, it is somewhere between peameal bacon and ham.
Cook Time
| Prep time | Cook time | Ready in | Yields |
|---|---|---|---|
15 min | 1 hour 45 min | 2 hours | Serves 6 people |
Ingredients for pork cottage roll one-pot meal
Ingredients
- Pork cottage roll (the one pictured below is slightly over 4 pounds)
- 2 bay leaves
- 2 garlic cloves cut in half or quartered
- 14 peppercorns
- 1 large onion quartered and quartered again
- 5 carrots peeled and either cut into bite-size pieces or quartered lengthwise
- 4–5 large potatoes washed and cut into serving sizes
- 1 small to medium cabbage cut into pieces
If you find that there is not enough room for all the vegetables in the pot, the cabbage can be cooked at the last minute. Remove the pork cottage roll and set it on a plate. After you've removed the mesh, cover it with foil.
Remove the carrots, potatoes, and onions and set them in a covered dish to keep warm. Add the cabbage to the pot and cook on high for 10 minutes. Cover the pot so the cabbage will cook faster.
Instructions
- Put the cottage roll into a large stockpot and cover with water.
- To the pot, add the garlic cloves, peppercorns, and bay leaves.
- Bring all of this to a boil, cover, and simmer for an hour. Check the roast periodically to make sure that the water is still covering the roast. If it isn't, add more water.
- While your cottage roll is cooking, clean, cut, and prepare the carrots, onion, potatoes, and cabbage.
- After an hour, add all of the prepared vegetables and bring to a light boil, continuing to cook until the vegetables are cooked.
- Remove the cottage roll from the pot and remove the mesh by cutting and pulling it a bit.
- Remove vegetables and put them into a serving dish.
- Slice the cottage roll, serve and enjoy!
- Dijon or your favorite mustard goes quite nicely with the meat.
Soup Base
The liquid that is left in the pot after everything is cooked and removed makes a great soup base. Save it for the following day!
Simply heat and add leftover meat from the cottage roll, along with fresh frozen or leftover vegetables. If there are no leftovers, make chicken soup or bean soup with the broth!
Questions & Answers
Question: How long should you boil a cottage roll?
Answer: Put the cottage roll into a large stockpot and cover with water. Add the garlic cloves, peppercorns and bay leaves to the pot. Bring all of this to a boil, cover and simmer for an hour. Check the cottage roll periodically to make sure that the water is still covering the roast. If not add more water. After an hour add all of the prepared vegetables and bring to a light boil continuing to cook until the vegetables are cooked. This is for a cottage roll that is slightly over 4 pounds.
Question: Can you freeze cottage pork roll?
Answer: Yes, you can freeze but when you do go to cook it, it is best if you thaw it first.
Question: Can I cook a cottage roll in an instant pot?
Answer: I have never tried to myself but yes you can cook a pork cottage roll in an instant pot.
Question: Can you refreeze cooked cottage roll?
Answer: You can refreeze cooked meat as long as it's been cooled before going into the freezer, and it was originally defrosted in the refrigerator.
Question: Is Pork Cottage Roll salty?
Answer: No, it’s not salty.
Question: Can I soak pork cottage roll in water first to remove some of the salt?
Answer: Yes, you can soak the pork cottage roll in water overnight in the refrigerator. You can also change the water 1/2 way through cooking.
Question: Is the pork cottage roll recipe gluten-free?
Answer: Yes, I believe so.
© 2013 Susan Zutautas
