‘Pork’ morcon

Here’s a way of cooking something as visually and gastronomically exciting as morcon but with just a fraction of the cost and a third of the cooking time. Morcon is rolled beef flanks stuffed with vegetables, slices of cheese and strips of chorizo de bilbao. It is a popular dish served in parties because of the attractive appearance. A cross section of the morcon shows the different colors of the fillings. Personally, however, I find morcon too dry especially after it has cooled. I prefer serving it with a little sauce (please see my earlier recipe of a modified morcon called vegetable stuffed beef rolls).

Another consideration when cooking morcon is the price. Chorizo de bilbao, a spicy lard-packed Spanish sausage, is quite expensive. So is beef, for that matter. And, since tender cuts of beef are necessary for cooking morcon, well, it’s understandable why it is not exactly an everyday dish. But, we can always substitute, can’t we? I figure why not use pork cutlets, season them well and do away with the chorizo. The result is what you see in the photo. Just as impressive looking and just as delicious–in fact, more than good enough for the noche buena table.

Ingredients :

750 g. of pork cutlets (large slices of pork about 1/4-inch thick)
4-6 stalks of celery (how many depends on how long and thick they are)
2 medium-sized carrots
1 c. of flour
paprika
salt
pepper
ground oregano
2 c. of cooking oil
wooden toothpicks

Cooking procedure :

Lay the pork cutlets flat on a large plate or plates. Season with salt, pepper, paprika and ground oregano.

Prepare the vegetables. Remove the leaves of the celery amd reserve for decorating the cooked dish. Cut the stalks–the length should be an inch less than the widest part of the pork cutlets.

Peel the carrots and cut into strips.

Take a pork cutlet. Place carrot strips and celery sticks at the center. Roll the pork and secure with wooden toothpicks. Repeat until all the pork cutlets have been filled with vegetables.

Mix together the flour, 1/2 tsp. of pepper. 1/4 tsp. of oregano and 1/4 tsp. of paprika. If you prefer, used a pack of commercial seasoned flour. You won’t have too much control over the balance of flavors but it may simplify things for you.

Dredge the rolled pork cutlets in the seasoned flour making sure that evert part is coated well.

Heat the oil in a wok or fryer. When it starts to smoke, carefully lower a floured pork roll into the hot oil. Cook only about 2-3 pork rolls at a time so as not to over crowd tha pan. Overcrowding will make the temperature drop and make the meat soggy. Cook the pork rolls until they are golden brown. Depending on their size, cooking may take anywhere from 15 to 20 minutes. What you want is a thoroughly looked pork–golden on the outside and moist in the inside–and tender crisp vegetables.

Drain the cooked pork morcon on paper towels. Slice horizontally into 1/2-inch wide pieces. Note that removing the toothpicks before slicing may ruin the appearance of the cut pork morcon. It is better to remove the them after cutting the meat.

To make things easier, when securing the uncooked pork morcon with toothpicks, position the toothpicks about 1/2″ apart. When the pork morcon is cooked, slice the meat with the knife almost touching the toothpick. That way, it will be easy to remove them.

Serve the pork morcon with a mixture of equal parts of mayonnaise and tomato catsup seasoned with ground white pepper.