Pork Terrine and Peppered Cumquats
Terrines are an old fashioned staple of the farmhouse kitchen, and I have been making preserved peppered cumquats for years as a great accompaniment. Nagami cumquats (also spelt kumquat) are native to China where they are known as ‘‘gold oranges’’, derived from the Cantonese kam kwat. Cumquats have that wonderful sweet skin, bitter juice and pungent taste which is so good for cutting the fattiness in different dishes, making them the perfect accompaniment for rich, fatty meats like the pork terrine.
Nagami cumquats are oval in shape, bright in colour and delicious. Peppered cumquats are so easy to make in small quantities. In the summer when fresh apricots are abundant I use the same recipe to make peppered apricots. Again, perfect with the Christmas ham, or a great present to give away in the Christmas hamper.
As I find some wine vinegars to be very sharp and bitey, I recommend you taste the syrup and adjust with a little more sugar or water or both while you are cooking. Vinegar is a natural preservative and when made, the peppered cumquats should have a shelf life of at least six months. First, the pork terrine, which I have adapted from Simon Hopkinson’s recipe.
Old-fashioned pork terrine
350g pork back fat
900g shoulder of pork
225g lean bacon in one piece, rind removed
225g pork liver
25g butter
2 small onions, peeled and finely chopped
50g fresh white breadcrumbs
1 glass of dry white wine
3 tbsp of brandy
4 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
10 sage leaves, finely chopped
1⁄2 tsp ground allspice
2 tsp herbs de Provence (thyme and bayleaf)
2 tsp ground black pepper
2 tsp salt
After preheating the oven to 170C, cut about a third of the pork back fat into thin slices and use to line a terrine dish, saving two or three slices for the top. Dice the remaining fat, pork shoulder, bacon and liver into small pieces. Put all the diced pork into a large bowl. Melt the butter in a frying pan, cook the onions until pale gold, cool and then add the pork mix and all the other ingredients.
Pack the mixture into the terrine and cover with the saved pork fat slices. Cover the terrine and cook in a bainmarie using a deep enough roasting tin so that the water will come three quarters of the way up the dish. Cook for about one-and a-half hours.
After removing the terrine from the oven and pouring away the water, you’ll notice the terrine has slightly shrunk away from the edges and is surrounded by meat juices and fat. Insert a skewer for five seconds, and consider the terrine cooked if the skewer feels hot against your bottom lip. Allow to rest for 10 minutes. Weigh the terrine down for about 30 minutes. During this time, the juices and fat will come to the surface.
Allow to cool completely and then put in the fridge. Three days later you are ready to eat, but I suggest making some peppered cumquats to go with it.
Peppered cumquats
1kg cumquats
500ml white wine vinegar
700g caster sugar
4 bird’s eye chillis
25g fresh ginger
200ml water
Cut the cumquats in half, lengthways. Make a syrup by bringing the sugar, water and vinegar to the boil. Add sliced chilli and grated ginger and simmer for five minutes. Add half the cumquats to the poaching syrup and bring back to the boil. Simmer for another minute or so. Using a slotted spoon, bottle cumquats while hot into clean, sterilised jars. Cover cumquats with the boiling liquid and lid jar. This should make four jars of about 300g each.