Stuffed chine facts for kids
| Course | Main |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | UK |
| Region or state | Lincolnshire |
| Serving temperature | Cold |
| Main ingredients | Pork, parsley |
Stuffed chine is a special traditional dish from the English county of Lincolnshire. It's made from salt pork that has been filled with tasty herbs, especially parsley. This dish is a unique part of Lincolnshire's food history.
Contents
What is Stuffed Chine?
Stuffed chine is a very old recipe that uses a specific cut of pork. This cut, called the "neck chine," comes from the pig's neck area, between its shoulder blades. To prepare it, the meat is first preserved in a salty water mixture called "brine." This helps keep the meat fresh and adds flavor.
How is Stuffed Chine Made?
After the pork has been in brine, the cooks make deep cuts into the meat. They then stuff these cuts with lots of chopped parsley. Sometimes, other secret ingredients are added too! For example, an old recipe from 1894 suggested adding a little bit of thyme, mint, marjoram, young cabbage leaves, and even lettuce.
Once it's stuffed, the meat is cooked slowly by simmering it. Simmering means cooking it gently in hot liquid, just below boiling. When the stuffed chine is ready, it's served cold and sliced into pieces. Each slice shows off pretty pink meat with bright green stripes of parsley, making it look as good as it tastes!
History and Famous Fans
Stuffed chine has been enjoyed for a long time, and some interesting people have even tried it!
A Poet's Favorite Dish
The famous French poet Paul Verlaine lived in England for about a year in the 1870s. He worked as a schoolteacher near Boston, a town in Lincolnshire. Verlaine loved stuffed chine so much that he tried to find it in other parts of England, but he couldn't! It seems this dish was truly special to Lincolnshire.
A Traditional Celebration Food
In 1936, a newspaper called the Sunderland Daily Echo reported something interesting. It said that stuffed chine was a traditional food served on Trinity Sunday in a place called Old Clee, which is in north-east Lincolnshire. This shows how important the dish was to local traditions and celebrations.
A Recipe from a Food Writer
A well-known food writer named Jane Grigson even shared a recipe for stuffed chine. She published her recipe in The Observer newspaper in March 1984, helping more people learn about this unique dish.
