Name: Pork Coddled in Olive Oil with Tuscan Beans and Arugula
Yield: Serves 8
Cuisine: Italy
Ingredients: 2½ tablespoons red wine vinegar; Tuscan Beans; 1 tablespoon coarse salt; 2 cups plus 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 1 small red onion, sliced paper thin; 1 tablespoon crushed black peppercorns; 2 imported bay leaves, crushed to a powder; ½ teaspoon bruised fennel seeds; 2 large bunches of arugula; 1 small head of garlic, halved; 2¼ pounds lean boneless pork shoulder; 2 sprigs of thyme

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen

By Paula Wolfert

Published 2003

About

This dish from Arezzo originated in a time of great poverty and drought, when pigs had to be slaughtered because there was nothing to feed them. The pigs' legs, of course, were preserved in the form of prosciutto. The local farmers devised a method of preserving the rest of the pork similar to the way fresh tuna is preserved in Sicily: they salted it, cooked it very slowly in olive oil along with some seasonings and a little bit of unfiltered vin brusco, and then preserved the meat <