Polendwitsa (or poledwica) in Belarusian cuisine is meat, salted, rubbed with spices (usually bay leaf, coriander, caraway seeds or dill), and then air-dried. It's an incredibly delicious appetizer that goes great with beer. How long you air-dry it depends on how dry you want your meat, my family usually can't wait longer than a week, but one of my friends is tough enough to let it dry for 3 weeks. You should try polendwitsa and I'm sure you'll get hooked like we are. Update : One of my Pinterest friends suggested a better name for it - Salt Cured Tenderloin - whatever you call it, it tastes amazing!
1. Rub meat with salt on all sides. Place in a bowl or glass baking dish, cover and refrigerate for 2 days (3 days for thicker meat), turning once a day.
2. Dry meat with paper towels, sprinkle with ground black pepper, dry dill and crushed bay leaf (you can also use such spices as coriander or caraway seeds) on all sides.
3. Wrap tightly in cheesecloth (4-5 layers), tie with kitchen twine.
4. Hang in a dry, well-ventilated place for 7-10 days (depending on how dry you want your meat). When we use air conditioner, I often hang the meat in a closet closer to air vent.
5. Store in refrigerator, wrapped in cheesecloth. Remove the cheesecloth and slice. Serve as an appetizer.
Note: This post may contain affiliate links for products I like. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that if you click on a link and make a purchase, I'll earn some coffee money at no cost to you, which I promise to drink while creating more helpful recipes like this ;) Thank you for supporting My Delicious Meals!
About Alena
Welcome to my website!
I’m Alena, the blogger at MyDeliciousMeals since 2010. My goal with MyDeliciousMeals is for you to discover the joy of cooking and to find lots of new favorite recipes that your family will enjoy. I’m so happy you stopped by!
This pork is out of this world. It was the first time I made air-dried pork. When I saw this recipe, I decided that I MUST give it a try. It turned out GREAT, super delicious! The most difficult for me was to find a "dry, well-ventilated place". I also read that the best temperature for drying meat is below 60F, so I decided to try my basement. It worked great for me! It hang there for 7 days, then I transferred it to the fridge and let it dry for another 5 days. OMG, it's so YUMMMMM!!!! Will recommend this recipe to my friends!
.jpg "Beef Chebureki (Deep Fried Beef Dumplings)")
Comments
Question
GuestAmazing!!! Thanks a lot for sharing!!!
kath