A week or so ago, having set off to the butcher in Manor Green Road to organise some of his fine shoulder of pork, I switched to loin on a whim, to be picked up a few days later. On the day, I took about two thirds of the loin offered, and needing something bony for the gravy, the butcher obligingly cut the blade bone out of the last third. Back home, the loin weighed in at just about 7 pounds, otherwise 3.2kg.
Boiled up the bone for a few hours with onions, cabbage and the odd carrot the same day. Mashing with the potato masher from time to time. Strained off the liquor - maybe a pint and a half of it - and fed the bits of boiled meat to BH for her supper.
First thing next morning, off to Sainsbury's at Kiln Lane to top up on greens, to get some cooking apples and to get a white loaf for gravy dipping before and cold meat sandwiches after. No Calvados or Armagnac to be had, despite this being a Tier 1 store. I think I managed the self-checkout all by myself on this occasion.
Boiled up the cooking apples with some sugar (as per Radiation, but not as per our usual practise) and sieved them. Stirred in some butter. Into the top oven to keep warm with the plates.
Next, the search for precedents and rather to my surprise it turned out that there had been a flush of loins of pork around 2008-2009, then nothing. We must have switched to rolled shoulder on the grounds that it roasts better and was cheaper. And it was all before I started included cooking notes in the notice, so not much help here. But see for yourself at reference 1.
The BBC offered a couple of complicated looking recipes, but both involving spells at 200°C, rather hotter than I usually roast at. The Radiation book on pork says 33mins/lb at Mark 3 (around 160°C) or 25mins/lb at Mark 6 (around 200°C). It went on to suggest 90mins at Mark 6 for a 2lb joint, possibly skinned and boned. Whereas my joint was long and thin, including both skin and bone. So I settled for 2 hours at 200°C. Into the pre-heated over at 11:00.
Inspected and basted at 12:15, at which point it was coming on well. Speared clean at 12:45, so plated up, back in the oven. Oven turned off five minutes later.
Poured the surprisingly small amount of fat into a small saucepan to be roux'd up. Poured the liquor into the roasting tin to soak up the bits and bobs there. Helped along a bit with a holed spoon. Moved onto the full gravy performance, and although I say it myself, it was very good gravy. The best we have had for a while.
Note: when first made the gravy should be free running, a bit thinner than single cream. It should set when it goes cold, without any fat forming on top. We usually add a little water before reheating.
Somewhere along the line, did the carrots (washed but not peeled, 5 minutes) and the greens (chopped stalks 7 minutes, leaves 5 minutes). Plus the brown rice.
At which point the girls blew the dinner trumpet. They managed this bit rather well, considering their age.
On the plate. A bit more juice to stir into the gravy at this point.
Some time later. With one of the points of interest being the grooved finish of the vertebral joint visible, bottom middle. Presumably intended to give something or other more to grip on. But it certainly suggested that the back, of present interest to yours truly, is a complicated affair with plenty to go wrong. Apple sauce, visible upper right, went down rather well hot rather than cold. And I liked it better with the sugar; I always found it a bit thin without, without knowing why.
It all went down very well. Assisted by Fleurie, as discovered in the Bugle of the Isle of Wight, from both Waitrose and Costcutter, although the bugle there is a particular sort of beef cow rather than a musical instrument called a trumpet for dinner purposes.
I might also say that M&S did a better job on a mixed pack of grapes than Sainsbury's usually manage. Good flavours and very few duds.
Oddly, neither Bing nor Google had any idea what a bovine bugle was. Nor did Gemini, but when I corrected him with some chapter and verse, I got the usual grovel, plus what I think might be the right answer. Not just made up to please me. Leaving aside the minor problem that a bullock to me means a castrated male calf, not a bull at all: people are not always careful about such things.
Followed by one of BH's fine sponge cakes involving strawberries and cream. Not much of it left by the time I got around to snapping it. Extra strawberries visible lower right.
And, for once, I actually managed a cold meat sandwich later. I may even have used butter, the loin not being as full of fat as shoulder.
Day two: heated up the left over greens and rice, together with a little of the left over pork, chopped, in a little of the left over gravy, in the microwave. 10 minutes at medium. Served as a supper dish.
Days three and four: served cold with fresh vegetables for lunch. More greens, but potatoes rather than rice. Most of what was left of the gravy. Greens continuing to go down very well: a fine vegetable at this time of year. And we continue to enjoy cold pork.
I took my meat a little later on this occasion.
Down to the last knockings, with most of the bones now chewed.
The whole rounded off with some dark plums.
What little pork was left at this point was taken for supper. Along with what was left of the gravy taken on brown bread, garnished with what was left of the greens. Altogether a very satisfactory experience.
PS 1: the Gemini answer rather spoiled a little later by the horns on the pub sign at reference 2. I don't suppose they will have a clue in the pub, but if I poke around the town (and its library) I may be able to get to the bottom of bugles. By which I mean preferably documentary evidence of the use of the word 'bugle' in and around Brading. Accepted usage of the word in the area for a decent period of time. Cattle auction results and lists? Farming manuals or local newspaper articles from the period in question? Old and new town halls? Bland assertions by local & social historians of today not so good - although something.
PS 2: something from reference 3, for example, would have been good. Reference 3 being a substantial 1888 extract from the the 17th century memoirs of Sir John Oglander, an important man at the time, who lived near Brading; quite possibly buried in the church there. Brought to the Internet by the Library of the University of California at Los Angeles with some help from the Microsoft Corporation. The text is searchable, and while there was some evidence of the baiting bulls at Brading (and elsewhere on the island), the word 'bugle' did not occur at all. The word 'bull' scored 8, just one of them in the memoirs proper.
PS 3: bugling is something that bull elks (aka moose) do in the US in the rutting season to attract females and/or to warn off other males. Don't know about cattle in the UK.
References
Reference 1: https://pumpkinstrokemarrow.blogspot.com/search?q=loin+pork.
Reference 2: https://thebugleinnbrading.co.uk/.
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