Sweet Pickled Cottage Roll

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Sweet Pickled Cottage Roll

Sweet Pickled Cottage Roll
© Denzil Green


A Sweet Pickled Cottage Roll is boneless pork shoulder butt cured in a sweet brine.

It is an inexpensive cut but tasty, as it will taste somewhat like ham, in that it's salty.

The brine it is cured in consists of water, salt, sugar, sodium erythorbate and sodium nitrate. The sugar is what makes it the meat taste sweet.

You can buy a whole one, or half of one. Either way, the cut is sold raw, and needing cooking.

Sweet Pickled Cottage Roll is sold wrapped in netting, then in plastic.

Serve as you would ham, either as part of a meal, or on rolls and sandwiches, or in soups.

Ideal for crock pot cooking.

Cooking Tips

Sweet Pickled Cottage Roll in packaging

Sweet Pickled Cottage Roll
in packaging
© Denzil Green

Cook a Sweet Pickled Cottage Roll by simmering it in water. This helps to leach excess brine out.

Remove the plastic, but leave the netting on. The purpose of netting is to hold it together while cooking.

Ones that are sold vacuum sealed will need more rinsing to get some of the brine off: about 5 minutes under running water. Otherwise, just a quick rinse will do it, to get some of the salt off the surface.

Put in a pot fattiest side up. Cover in water.

Add some seasonings to the water if desired, such as a bay leaf, cloves and / or garlic, peppercorns, celery pieces, onion, etc. Some people add 1/2 cup (4 oz / 125 ml) of beer or apple juice to the cooking water. Some people, though, just cook it in plain water, figuring that the flavour from the pickling brine it was cured in is all that is really needed.

Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook according to package directions, or if none provided, use these guidelines:
  • under 3 1/2 pounds (1.75kg), cook 35 minutes per pound (500g);
  • over 3 1/2 pounds (1.75 kg), cook 30 minutes per pound (500g);
  • in a crock pot on low, 4 to 6 or 8 to 10 hours depending on size.

It is done when the internal temperature is 160 F (70 C.)

About half hour before the meat is done (if you are doing it in a pot on a stove top), you can turn it into a boiled dinner by adding root veg, cabbage, etc. Add the veg, bring to boil, then reduce to simmer until meat is cooked and veg are tender. If you are doing it in a crock pot, add those items about an hour before done.

Remove netting before serving.

The cooking water makes an excellent stock for soup the next day. Put it in the fridge overnight, then take it out of the fridge and before it warms out, skim the chilled fat off the top and discard.

Nutrition
Per 100g: 180 calories, 10g fat (of which 4g is saturated), 50mg cholesterol, 1g sodium, 7g carbohydrate, 15g protein.
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