Iberico

Just over a week ago we took the pork bought on the expedition noticed at reference 1, eaten for the first and only time on the expedition noticed at reference 2. At the late lamented Terroirs of King William Street, so handy for either a Bullingdon stand or a Police Station.

The helpful man a Brindisi had explained that there was no presa, but that secreto was probably the nearest, despite the distance on the diagram above. He also explained about cooking it for two minutes on each side in a very hot frying pan - without adding fat or oil. Quite enough in the meat already. And the diagram on his wall was very like that included above: a diagram which, inter alia, tells us that this pork, despite its heritage name, actually comes from brand new American pigs moved to Spain for the purpose.

Thawed out there secreto looked much bigger than it had when frozen, much more like the pound of meat it actually was, something more than 500g. I cut them both in half along the narrow neck, the band of fat visible on the piece right, but then delegated the whole business to BH as she had experience in this hot frying pan cooking, which I did not.

So I went off around Jubilee Way while she prepared lunch - although, to anticipate, I did take my turn later in the day.

She elected to cook the meat in two shifts, leaving the first shift in a warm oven while she did the second shift.

On return I selected the Chablis from Morrison's which I had bought a couple of month's previously on the occasion noticed at reference 3 to go with it.

We were amused by being told that we should find hints of fern inside. A scent or savour which would be entirely new for us.

I took a picture of the cork so it must have been fake or semi-fake, but I forget exactly how. Probably because it was made of some confection of cork dust and resin, confected so as to pass for real cork at a distance. Probably a better seal than a real cork too, assuming that a better seal is a good thing, is better.

The pork turned out very well: pink inside and brown outside. Odd how unlike regular pork it tasted and I wouldn't like to say what I would have said it was on a blind tasting.

Not sure that we got the vegetables quite right, as although the roast roots were good, the cabbage and the couscous were a bit bland to go with this pork. A restaurant would perhaps have offered small dabs of something a bit more strongly flavoured: so perhaps we should have spiced up the couscous a bit and gone for a stronger green vegetable, perhaps spinach or kale rather than cabbage.

The wine started good, but seemed a bit thin by the end of the bottle. It came from the 'Union des Viticultueurs de Chablis', widely available in supermarkets and wine stores, and which, according to reference 5, seems to be a mass market brand name cooked up by the people at reference 4. At least I think 'GD' is marketing speak for mass market, literally 'Grand Déplacement'. From which I conclude that it is as hard to get to the bottom of the branding of wine as it is to get to the bottom of ownership of companies.

Followed by a fine damson crumble, made with damsons which had fallen off the small tree, the other side of the fence by our back patio.

After a short break, I walked some bricks. And after that I won at Scrabble, on a low combined score of just over 500. And after that I made a start at emptying the lily pond, getting as far as heaving out the lily and all its roots. Thus making a start to the job already reported at reference 6.

It looks as though I finished the lily pond the following morning, and then waited a few days before tackling the other two. But I may have got into a muddle with the timeline.

References

Reference 1: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/09/cheese-on-foot.html.

Reference 2: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/01/no-spatburgunder.html.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/07/a-tale-of-tyre.html.

Reference 4: https://chablisienne.com/en/home/.

Reference 5: https://www.vitisphere.com/actualite-89155-Union-des-viticulteurs-de-Chablis-la-nouvelle-marque-pour-conquerir-la-GD.htm.

Reference 6: https://psmv5.blogspot.com/2021/09/pond-time.html.