Egurdouce (Medieval Pork with Red Wine, Currants, and Figs)
A historically inspired medieval dish from The Forme of Cury, featuring pork, red wine, vinegar, currants, sugar, warming spices, and fresh figs, served with rice.
Ingredients
- 900 g pork shoulder, cut into large chunks OR rabbit/ mutton/ lamb
- 3 medium onions, roughly chopped
- 75 g pork dripping or lard
- 50 g currants
- 4 –5 fresh figs, quartered + extra for later & garnish
- 360 ml red wine
- 25 ml red wine vinegar
- 15 g caster sugar or honey
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper
- ⅓ tsp ground cinnamon
- ⅓ tsp ground ginger
- A few sprigs of saffron
- Salt, to taste
- 1½ tbsp soft white breadcrumbs, optional
Instructions
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Heat the oven to 230 °C / 210 °C fan. Arrange the pork in a large roasting dish and rub with the dripping or lard. Roast for around 15 minutes, turning once, until nicely browned. Alternatively, you can do this on the stove like I did in the video.
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Blanch the onions in boiling water for 5 minutes then remove. Add the onions and currants for the final few minutes into the pork.
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Meanwhile, mix together the red wine, vinegar, sugar, pepper, cinnamon, saffron and ginger. Pour the wine mixture over the pork.
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Reduce the oven to 180 °C / 160 °C fan, cover and cook for 60-85 minutes, or until the pork is tender.
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Add a few extra fresh figs for the final 15 minutes, allowing them to soften without completely collapsing.
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Taste and season with salt.
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If you want a thicker sauce, stir through the breadcrumbs for the final few minutes.
Notes
Committed to this collection by the hand of Hunter.
