Homemade Buzhenina

Welcome to the wonderful world of Slavic cuisine! Today, we're making Buzhenina, a traditional and beloved dish in many Eastern European countries. It's essentially a large, solid piece of pork, seasoned with garlic and spices, and slow-roasted until perfectly tender and juicy. Buzhenina is incredibly versatile – it can be the star of a festive dinner, served hot with your favorite sides, or cooled and thinly sliced for the most amazing sandwiches you've ever had. Forget store-bought deli meats; this homemade version is healthier, tastier, and will fill your home with an irresistible aroma.

Homemade Buzhenina

Preparation: 20 minutes

Cooking: 1 hour, 30 minutes

Quantity: 4

Per serving

Calories: 386 kcal

Proteins: 35 g

Fats: 27 g

Carbohydrates: 1 g

Ingredients for Homemade Buzhenina

• 700g (about 1.5 lbs) pork loin or shoulder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 0.5 teaspoon of black ground pepper
• A few black, white, pink, and green peppercorns (or you can just use regular black peppercorns)
• 2-3 bay leaves
• A few cloves of garlic

How to Make Homemade Buzhenina

Ingredients for Homemade Buzhenina

For buzhenina, a whole piece of pork without bones or sinew, but with a small amount of fat, works best. When baked, this kind of meat turns out soft and juicy, not dry and tough like a shoe sole.

Rinse the meat under the tap, pat it slightly dry on a cutting board, and then stud it with spices and seasonings: make incisions 1-2 cm deep with a knife. In each cut, place a little salt, ground pepper and peppercorns, a piece of bay leaf, and a part of a garlic clove.

Stud the meat with spices

Next, wrap the meat in baking foil, trying to wrap it as tightly and securely as possible. The shiny side of the foil should face out, and the matte side should face in.

Wrap the meat in baking foil

Place the foil-wrapped meat in a cast-iron skillet or a glass baking dish, and pour about 1 cm of water into the bottom of the dish.

Place the foil-wrapped meat in a cast-iron skillet

Bake the buzhenina at 190°C (375°F) for 1-1.5 hours. The cooking time, as well as the baking temperature, may vary depending on your oven. Therefore, monitor the process – add more water when it evaporates. After about an hour of baking, carefully unwrap the foil and test the meat with a knife. If the juices run clear and the meat is tender, the buzhenina is ready. If it’s still tough, you need to continue cooking.

Take the cooked buzhenina out of the oven, unwrap it, and let it cool slightly

Take the finished homemade buzhenina out of the oven, unwrap it, and let it cool slightly before slicing.

Homemade Buzhenina is ready!