Buzhenina – Pork Roast Baked in Foil, Step-by-Step Recipe

Step-by-step recipe

1. Buzhenina needs a large piece of pork – 2–3 kg. Leg or shoulder with a layer of fat is ideal. Carefully remove all the bones, especially any splinters that may be left after butchering. Trim off the sinews and membranes. Wash the meat and pat it dry with paper towels.
   
2. To have the dish ready for Christmas, it is best to start a day ahead – allowing for the long marinating – and to cook it in the morning or the evening before.
3. Put all the spices – rock salt (or sea salt), coriander seeds, oregano, thyme, black peppercorns and bay leaf – in a mortar and crush them coarsely. The spices go in roughly equal amounts by volume, with two parts of salt and 4–5 bay leaves. The total amount of spice mix for a 2.5 kg piece of meat is about one heaped tablespoon. Keep in mind that some of the spices will stay in the marinade.
   
4. Separate the head of garlic into cloves and peel them. Cut the large cloves in half lengthwise.
5. Put the prepared pork on a cutting board and, with a thin knife (or ideally a special larding needle), make lots of cuts in the meat, half its thickness deep. Push a garlic clove, or half a large one, into each cut. I will say it straight away – buzhenina cannot be spoiled by too many garlic cloves.
   
6. Next, rub the whole piece of meat with the salt and spice mix, on all sides. Thoroughly, without missing a spot.
   
7. Put the pork in a plastic or glass dish – a lidded roasting dish is ideal. Put the container with the meat in the fridge for 3–4 hours to dry-marinate.
   
8. When the dry marinating is over, pour fresh dark beer over the meat. The kind of beer is up to you; all that matters is that the beer covers the piece completely.
   
9. Put the container with the meat in the marinade in the fridge for a long time. From time to time, though not too often, turn the buzhenina over in the marinade.
10. The minimum marinating time is 12 hours. Ideally, marinate the pork in beer for up to a day – then the buzhenina will turn out tender and juicy.
11. On the day the dish is to be baked, pour off the marinade and pat the meat dry with a paper towel. The less moisture is left on the piece, the better.
12. If the pork is very lean, or rather there is no pork fat on its surface, it is worth coating it lightly with vegetable oil or – though I do not like this at all – with mayonnaise.
13. Spread the kitchen foil on the table and wrap the meat in it tightly. Wrap it in 3–4 layers, trying not to leave any gaps.
    
14. People often argue about which side of the foil the meat should go on: shiny or matt. I have done it both ways. No difference. But I have read in clever books that the shiny side should face inwards – supposedly the heat reflects off the shiny surface and stays inside. Perhaps.
15. On one side of the foil parcel with the buzhenina, make a hole with a knife. Simply pierce the foil with the knife so the liquid can run out during cooking.
16. Put the wrapped meat in an oven preheated to 220°C.
    
17. Strictly speaking, there is no need to turn the pork; what matters is that it lies on a baking tray and the liquid runs out of it. By the way, you can bake it in the same roasting dish it was marinated in.
18. The cooking time varies a lot. From two to three hours. Judge by the colour of the liquid and the colour of the meat. It is often advised to remove or cut open the foil at the end of baking so that the meat dries out a little and browns. Do not do it. Buzhenina is not fried meat; it should be closer to meat baked in its own juices than to meat roasted in fat with a crust.
19. When the cooking is over, remove the foil and throw it away. Let the meat cool and, once it is cold, slice it across the grain. Thin or thick – as you like. I prefer a proper piece of meat.
    
20. Arrange the sliced buzhenina on a large platter and garnish with fresh vegetables: cucumbers, tomatoes. And also with fresh dill or parsley.
    
21. Buzhenina is served at the Christmas table sliced or as a whole piece. Do not make sandwiches out of it, but do try making a salad with buzhenina.
    
22. Exceptionally good with mustard or homemade horseradish, the freshest you can get.