Comment | Slightly off topic, but akin to 15...
I was fixated on making a crown roast of pork for Christmas here in Berlin. The last (and only) time I ever had it was when my mom made it about 40 years ago, and it was wonderful. Having dutifully researched it, I figured out what cut of pork I needed and went to the butcher in the neighborhood. He knew what I wanted, but said it could only be done with lamb. I insisted it could be done with pork, and told him how to do it. He said OK, wrote it down in his order book, and told me to pick it up on the morning of the 24th.
When I returned to the shop on Christmas Eve morning, the butcher told me there was a problem: "Crown roasts can't be made from pork" -- and showed me the wonderful piece of pork that he had ordered for me. Once again, I went through the whole explanation, which he had obviously ignored from before. He transferred me to his assistant, who took the cut with him into the back room. He then came out with two ribs (out of the required 12+), which he had cut off the roast, telling me that what I really needed to do was cut a pocket into the meat between the ribs and stuff that. Back to the master butcher, to whom I once again explained the process for making a crown roast out of pork (so much for his training and experience as a "Meister" -- he couldn't transfer the technique from lamb to pork...) He made a few cuts into the roast, as I had explained, packed up the meat, then sent me on my way, telling me "Mit Schwein tut man das nicht." I told him "Doch, look it up on the Internet" -- and what he really meant was that it isn't commonly done in Germany. As it turns out, my mother-in-law was impressed by it, especially since she had done the same back in 1969 in the GDR. I took pictures of the roast at various stages of preparation, and I've been tempted to show them to the butcher as proof that it can be done. Maybe I should take the GDR recipe booklet to him, too, so he can read how it's done. |
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