Introduction: There Will Be Fat! Oil Bottled Pork Tenderloin

By The enamoured penguin


What is awesome? Pork.

What is AS awesome? Olive oil.

What would be the pinnacle of awesomeness? Combine the two elements.

This curios recipe has been passed to me by my father in Law and, believe or not, is an ancient Italian recipe directly from Prato, Tuscany

Step 1: What We Will Need...

The idea of this recipe is to cook the Pork tenderloin ( Italian is "Arista" ) and then bottle it with oil so that it can be consumed slowly when needed.

We'll need:
  1. A pork tenderloin
  2. Salt
  3. Thyme
  4. Basilic
  5. Crushed garlic
  6. Blackpepper
  7. Rosemary
  8. Oil (lots in fact)
  9. Potatoes
  10. Onion
And, a bottle...

Step 2: Slicin', Dicin'...

We'll start with a nice piece of roast, mine was 1 kilo and a half, but you can do less if you want.

We'll have to cut the pieces so that it eventually fit in the bottle. This depends entirely from the size of the bottle itself, that said remember the meat will shrink in the oven.

Step 3: ... and Spicin'

Then comes the phase that is known in italian as "Pillottare".

Using a mortar, grind together the spices,  the salt, the crushed garlic and add a drop or two of olive oil so that the mixture sticks together

After that, take a knife, stab the meat and start filling the cavities with the spices.

When you're finished it should look like your meat  had grown a beard ( YEULCH!)

Step 4: Bring Company !

Quickly clean the potatoes and the onion and chop them in medium sized pieces.

Put half an inch of Olive oil in the pan and put everything in it.

Add the remaining spices and, if you like, add some more.

Step 5: Burn Baby Burn!

Preheat the oven to 180C ( 356F) and then put this baby to roast.

Turn it from time to time so that both sides cook evenly.

I kept it one hour and ten, but it depends really from the size of your roast.

You can always go old school and check with a toothpic from time to time.

Step 6: Ready the Bottle.

Bottle has to be clean, so after washing and drying it, and right before putting the meat in it, boil some water and pour it  in for a quick rinse off.

ATTENTION! to avoid breaking the bottle  pour some cold water in it and pour the boiling water into the cold water.

You do not need much of it, just a cup or so, quickly rinse the bottle and throw the water away.

DO NOT touch the interior of the bottle after this or it will all be for nothing. If you think the bottle is too hot, pour slowly some cold water on the external walls.  

Step 7: Put the Piggies to Sleep.

Wait till the meat is cold, then put it into the freshly sterilized bottle and cover in olive oil.

The meat has to rest for at least two days, then you can start eating it.

Step 8: Enjoy! :)

The meat can stay bottled to a maximum of 6 months, after that period, the oil might start to get raunchy.

If you finish the meat before the 6 months period, just do more and put it in the same oil.

Before the end of the 6 month, I suggest that you buy little glass jars and put a single piece of meat in each jar using the content of the original bottle.

Give away to friends and relatives and tell them to use it  for salads or similar when the meat is finished.

If you can use a pig to the last piece, why not extend that to the oil?