Background
I’ve always been impressed with the creativity of main elements to meals in Poland. This Polish Pork Roulade is a perfect example of that, simple and straightforward the recipe involves no playing with cocktail sticks and skewers. You just need Pork Loin, Mustard and Bacon. A few cuts, a few rolls and pop it in the oven.
The dish also has a lot of use cases. You can use it a the main piece for a dinner or even slice it thinly the next day for a posh sandwich.
Ingredients for Polish Pork Roulade
| – Pork Loin around 1.2kg – 400g Raw bacon, smoked or maple cured (Ideally long/thin strips) – 6 garlic cloves – 2 tablespoons of gourmet mustard – 2 tablespoons of marjoram (optional) – 1/2 teaspoon of salt – 1/2 teaspoon of pepper |
Method
Butterfly the Pork
First you will need to “Butterfly” your piece of pork. If your pork is slightly long on one axis I suggest placing it lengthwise vertically on your cutting board and slicing horizontally across the shortest parts. This will help to ensure the meat doesn’t roll too thick which may require an extended cooking time, potentially burning the bacon on top.
Butterflying a piece of meat can be tricky if its your first time. For this reason I recommend watching the below 1 minute video, which will give a better idea on how to do it.
Fill & Roll
Now the pork as been butterflied, using the tip of a sharp knife. Make shallow cuts in a crisscross pattern across the inside. Be careful not to cut all the way through the meat. As an optional step, if your meat is still quick thick you can hammer it with a meat tenderiser a little.
Next crush the garlic in a garlic press (you can finely chop them if you don’t have one) and spread the 2 tablespoons of mustard evenly over the pork. Cover the mustard with the garlic evenly before mixing your salt, pepper and marjoram together and sprinkling over the mustard and garlic.
In order to finish the filling, take 200g of the bacon and lay them across the seasoning attempting to cover as much of the surface as possible.
Once the bacon has been layered across the meat, you can begin tightly rolling the meat. I recommend rolling the meat the back the direction it was cut.
Wrap & Bake
Finally lay the remaining bacon across the top of the pork and place in a ovenproof cooking dish that has a lid. It doesn’t matter if its glass, ceramic or iron. The important thing is the lid can seal when placed on top.
Put the pork covered with a lid on the middle shelf of a preheated oven, at 190°C (375°F) for an hour or 1 hour 15mins if your pork roulade is quite thick. At the end of the hour your bacon may still be rather pinkish. You can cook for a further 5-10 minutes with the lid off if your prefer the crispy golden brown effect.
Now your Roulade is ready! Traditionally its served with potatoes or other vegetables and a splash of homemade gravy. But don’t forget to follow the Polish culture, and treat yourself to a cold cut sandwich the next day.
Serving
Pork roulade is typically served with salad and potatoes. However, it works great as a thin cold cut for sandwiches.
Storing Polish Pork Roulade
Storage will depend on the moisture content of the roulade. If being stored after removal of the cooking juices and placing in an airtight container, within 1 hour of cooking. Then 3-5 days should be possible in the refrigerator.