Name: Arista di maiale con l'ananas
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 75 min
Total time: 90 min
Ingredients: 1 pork loin roast (about 1 kilo (2-1/4 lb)); 1 pineapple; 1 garlic clove (peeled and slightly crushed); Prosecco; olive oil; salt and pepper

Those of you who subscribe to the Memorie di Angelina newsletter or follow us on Substack will know that Ada Boni’s Il Talismano della felicità has finally been translated into English under the title The Talisman of Happiness. The publisher of the English edition was kind enough to send me a complimentary advance copy.

While I was leafing through the new translation, I happened upon a dish that, if I didn’t know the origin, I would never have pegged as Italian, let alone from one of the most authoritative Italian cookbooks of all time: arista di maiale con l’ananas, or Roast Pork Loin with Pineapple. At first I was skeptical but I went back to my Italian edition and, lo and behold, there it was.

An unusual combination

Pairings of meat and fruit do exist in Italian cookery—sausage and grapes is a classic example from Tuscany— but it’s not very common. I remember one time way back in my days as a young lawyer in New York days in the 1980s, I went out to dinner at the Empire Diner with a friend from Rome. She ordered guinea hen with a cherry sauce, more or less out of curiosity. It was something she said she would have never seen back home. Well, she took one bite and her face told the story. “How is it?” I asked. “Very American”, she replied. It wasn’t meant to be a compliment. We shared my order.

Boni’s recipe, on the other hand, is typically Italian in at least one respect, its simplicity. You simply brown a loin roast in garlic scented olive oil then, after a quick a splash of Prosecco, you roast it in the oven with pineapple cubes for an hour or so, until the pork is cooked through and the pineapple has caramelized nicely.

And as it turns out, pork and pineapple get along very well indeed. I think even my Roman friend M would approve. The sweet yet tangy fruit is a nice foil for the pork loin, providing lots of flavor to compliment a rather bland cut of meat.

It just goes to show, Italian cookery will never stop surprising you.

Ingredients

Serves 4-6 as a main course

1 pork loin roast, about 1 kilo (2-1/4 lb)
1 pineapple
1 garlic cloves, peeled and slightly crushed
Prosecco
olive oil
salt and pepper

Instructions

Prep the roast

Truss the roast so it will keep its shape. (See Notes for details.)

Prep the pineapple

Trim the pineapple of its top and bottom. Then cut off its tough skin and core it. Cut the pineapple in half crosswise. Take one half and cut it into small cubes. Cut the other half into thin slices and reserve.

Brown the roast

In a Dutch oven, or a flameproof gratin dish or roasting pan, preferably oval and just large enough to hold the roast, sauté the garlic gently in abundant olive oil until it just starts to the brown around the edges. Remove it.

Raise the flame and place the roast in the pan. Brown the roast well on all sides, seasoning generously with salt and pepper as you go.

When the roast is nice and brown, add a good splash of Prosecco and let it evaporate.

Roast

Place the pan in a moderate (180C/350F) oven for about an hour, or until the roast is cooked through but not dried out. Baste the roast from time to time with its cooking juices or, if things are drying out, a splash of Prosecco or water.

Remove the roast from the oven and let it rest for about 10-15 minutes.

Plate and serve

Arrange the reserved pineapple slices on a serving plate.

Then slice the roast, not too thinly, and arrange the slices over the pineapple. along with the pineapple cubes.

Nap the pork slices with their cooking juices and serve.

Arista di maiale con l'ananas (Pork Loin with Pineapple)

Notes

One of the tell tales signs that this recipe is Italian is its discrete use of garlic. A single clove should be only lightly browned over a gentle flame then discarded before the meat is added. Be careful not to overbrown or God forbid burn the garlic!

Choosing and roasting the pork loin

But the recipe succeeds or fails on the quality of its main ingredient, the pork and its proper roasting.

I’m guessing it wasn’t such an issue in Boni’s day, or perhaps even today in Italy, but these days most pork is bred to be extremely lean. Unfortunately along with the fat they bred out most of the juices and the flavor. And that’s especially true of the loin, which was already quite lean. If you can afford it, look for heirloom or heritage pork. The loin should be well-marbled and ideally still have some fat around it.

And be careful not to overcook the pork, lest it dry out. If you have a thermometer, aim for an internal temperature of 63-65C/145-150F. On the lower end of this range, the meat should be every so slightly pink. Otherwise, if you don’t have a thermometer, prick it with a knife or needle. If it’s done, the juices should run clear.

Though not mentioned in Boni’s recipe, it’s also a good idea to let the roast rest. This will ensure a juicier roast. But bear in mind that the internal temperature will continue to rise by a few degrees as it rests.

Trussing the roast

Trussing the roast isn’t strictly necessary, but it does help the roast keep a nice round shape. It’s not difficult once you get the hang of it.

Take a long bit of trussing string and loop it around one end of the roast, close to the edge. Tie a knot, then slide the string down maybe about 3 cm (1 inch) towards the other end of the roast and loop it around the roast again. No need to tie it this time. Keep sliding and looping until you get almost to the other edge, then turn the roast over and tie the string around each of your loops. Finally, loop the string over the other side and tie it up where your started. You should have something looking like the roast on the left.

It may all sound a lot more complicated than it really is, It’s a case where a video demo comes in handy. Take a look…

There are other ways to do it—some people actually tie and know each loop individually for example, but I find this to be the easiest method.

Variations

If I were to follow my instincts, I’d not bother with decorating the roast with pineapple slices. I’d either add more pineapple to the roast or just save it for dessert. I find the roast looks lovely enough with those lovely golden bits of caramelized fruit. But who am I to question a master like Ada Boni?

Boni doesn’t provide any variations on her recipe, but, to my surprise, I found several Italian recipes for arista di maiale con l’ananas in my research. Some call for onion instead of garlic. Some for butter rather than olive oil. Others for herbs like rosemary, sage or thyme. Or for Marsala instead of instead of Prosecco, leaning into the sweet side of fruit’s character. Yet others call for pineapple juice or, just before it has done cookng, a spoonful of balsamic vinegar. You will even see recipes for skewers of alternating slices of pork and pineapple roasted in a hot oven until golden brown.

And some call for filetto di maiale or pork tenderloin, rather than the loin. In these recipes, the tenderloin finishes cooking on the stove top in only 10-15 minutes or perhaps 20 in a hot oven.

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