Pork Cutlets: Hunter Style

The Recipe

263] PORK CUTLETS, HUNTER STYLE

OFFELLÆ APRUGNEO [1] MORE

IN THE SAME MANNER YOU CAN MAKE TIDBITS OF SOW’S BELLY [2] PORK CHOPS PREPARED IN A MANNER TO RESEMBLE WILD BOAR ARE [3] PICKLED IN OIL AND BROTH AND PLACED IN SPICES. WHEN THE CUTLETS ARE DONE [marinated] THE PICKLE IS PLACED ON THE FIRE AND BOILED; THE CUTLETS ARE PUT BACK INTO THIS GRAVY AND ARE FINISHED WITH CRUSHED PEPPER, SPICES, HONEY, BROTH, AND ROUX. WHEN THIS IS DONE SERVE THE CUTLETS WITHOUT THE BROTH AND OIL, SPRINKLED WITH PEPPER.

[1] G.-V. Aprugineo; List. Offellæ Aprugneæ, i.e. wild boar chops or cutlets. Vat. Ms. aprogneo more; Tor. pro genuino more; Tac. aprogeneo—from aprugnus, wild boar.

Mutton today is prepared in a similar way, marinated with spices, etc., to resemble venison, and is called Mouton à la Chasseur, hunter style.

[2] This sentence, probably belonging to the preceding formula, carried over by Torinus.

[3] This sentence only in Torinus.

Cooking Experience

I was looking through Apicius, and the recipe, “Pork cutlets, hunter style,” caught my eye mostly because it didn’t appear to be super challenging. It appears in the seventh book of Apicius, The Sumptuous. This section of the book includes what we would call today many gourmet recipes, including flamboyant desserts along with intricately stuffed animals. This recipe was quite the opposite: it seemed quite simple yet also appetizing. Many recipes that you find in Apicius that deal with pork can be very overdone, calling for the whole pig to be stuffed with other animals or many other ingredients. 

This recipe, however, stood out for its presumed simplicity. It really only involves marinating the pork for an unstated amount of time and then cooking it. How hard could it be? 

All the ingredients used for the marinade.

The troubles started right away as the recipe did not clarify whether I was to pickle or marinade the pork, instead prompting the cook to do both. It says to pickle, but leaves out any acidic ingredients that would do just that. I took my first creative freedom here by doing a little bit of each, adding in some vinegar but also some other marinating ingredients.

Elway was also unsure about some of the steps.

I used a mix of olive oil; chicken broth; vinegar; a little white wine; pepper; oregano seeds; salt; cumin and mustard seeds; bay leaves; thyme, and parsley to marinate the pork. This is the second point in the recipe where I had to take some creative liberties, as the recipe does not say what seasonings and spices to use for the pork. The spices and herbs that I decided to use were common ingredients in many Roman dishes and would have most likely been used in this recipe. 

The pork after being mixed in with the marinade.

I put the pork into a Dutch oven with all the ingredients and mixed it up, really covering each crevice of the pork in the marinade, leaving it to marinate for about 6 hours, moving all the spices and aromatics around at the 3-hour mark. Another creative liberty was using a Dutch oven, as the recipe never talks about transferring the marinade to a separate pot, and by using a Dutch oven, I could cook and marinate in the same container. By hour 6, the pork smelled incredible; the seasonings really worked their way into the meat. 

Once the pork was finally done marinating, which was based mostly on my growing appetite, I put the Dutch oven into the oven to “boil over the fire” as the recipe calls for. Except that I didn’t have an open fire, nor did it specify the temperature, so, based on my limited knowledge of recipes, I figured that 350 degrees for around 40 minutes would be enough. 

The pork after being cooked in the marinade, soaking up all the flavor.

 As the pork cooked,  the herbs and spices in the marinade became very aromatic, making my whole kitchen smell like a spice cabinet. By the time the pork had finished cooking, a large amount of the marinade had evaporated, leaving behind the start of a very flavor-rich gravy. I took the cutlets out of the marinade and put them into a dish, covered with aluminum foil in order to keep them warm while I turned the marinade on the stove into a gravy. 

I strained out the aromatics and chunks of pork, so that the only thing left was the leftover marinade, which I put on the stove to reduce.

The leftover gravy after being strained.

The recipe calls for me to add “roux” around this time in order to thicken the sauce into a gravy for the cutlets. (A roux is often used in cooking to thicken sauces or stews.) Roman roux would use Amylum, a wheat starch and water mix created from wheat that is not fully ground into pure flour. Sadly, I do not have access to ancient Amylum (although I wish I did), so instead I used the modern equivalent of a cornstarch and water mix.  I mixed the roux into the gravy as it boiled so that it would not clump up. I then added salt, honey, and pepper to taste, as the recipe calls for no exact measurements. The honey added a great sweetness to the gravy, which balanced well with the marinade itself. I then poured this gravy over the pork,

and the dish was finished.

The pork covered with the gravy. It smelled incredible.

My Opinion

I would overall say that the pork was pretty good. My supposed cooking times and temperatures worked pretty well, as the pork was neither too chewy nor too raw. It tasted very fresh and aromatic, as it smelled, with the pepper really punching through as a major flavour. It did need a little more salt, but besides that the flavour balancing was pretty good. The real star of the show was the gravy. It definitely carried the flavour profile of the pork and added an enjoyable savoury aspect. I would not say that it blew my socks off; however, it was definitely a good meal and something I would try again. 

 As I was finishing up my meal, I reflected on how this recipe was not what I had viewed at surface value. I chose this recipe because it seemed quite simple; however ended up with me estimating and presuming about cook times and ingredient types. Looking at the nature of Apicius and its origin, these troubles I had make sense. Apicius is not meant to be a full-fledged cookbook that even the simplest cook can understand. Instead, it's a collection of different chefs jotting down notes about Apicius’s recipes, trying their best to recreate his mastery. The challenge of Apicius is putting yourself in antiquity and trying to piece together this recipe riddle using context clues and history. I am sure that this issue will be a recurring theme in my following recipes; however, hopefully I am more prepared, and it will not be such a roadblock. 

My Recipe

4 Pounds of pork cutlets

2 Cups parsley

½ Cup Rosemary

½ Thyme

1 Teaspoon Mustard Seeds

1 Teaspoon Cumin

1 Teaspoon oregano seeds

4 bay leaves

2 Tablespoons Black Pepper ( Slightly Crushed)

1 Tablespoon Salt

2 pints chicken broth

1 cup white wine

1 cup olive oil

2 Tablespoons vinegar

2 Tablespoons honey

Elway enjoyed a little bit of the gravy mixed in with his dog food.