To Boil a Leg of Pork
Ingredients
Directions
Cure and soak
Salt the pork for 8 to 10 days, turning it daily.
Soak the pork in cold water for 30 minutes before cooking.
Cook
Boil the pork, allowing 15 minutes per pound plus an additional 30 minutes.
Skim the water as it boils, but do not boil it fast to avoid toughness.
Reserve some cooking water for making pea soup.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Pork leg
- The main cut, which becomes tender and juicy during long, gentle simmering.
- Coarse salt
- Cures the meat over days, seasoning it deeply and drawing out moisture to help preserve it.
The step that matters
Boil the pork gently, not fast. A rapid boil agitates and toughens the meat's proteins, while a gentle simmer lets collagen slowly break down, leaving the pork tender.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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