In the classic Poltava roll, half a kilogram of pork is ground and mixed with half a cup of water, half a beaten egg, crushed garlic, salt, and pepper to taste. Then spread the mixture on a damp cloth, cover the center with thin slices of boiled egg, roll it up using the cloth, place the roll on a greased baking sheet, pour the remaining beaten egg over it, and bake in the oven until done. However, we will prepare the Poltava roll without eggs — using cheese and mushrooms. A more refined recipe includes a honey glaze.
Ingredients for the roll: pork neck – 1 kg; mushrooms – 300 g; hard cheese – 100 g; onion – 1 piece; garlic – 3–4 cloves; apple cider vinegar – 1 tablespoon; oil – 1 tablespoon; honey – 1 tablespoon; ground black pepper – 1 teaspoon; paprika – 1 teaspoon; salt – 1 tablespoon.
Ingredients for the glaze: oil – 1 tablespoon; ketchup – 1 tablespoon; honey – 1 tablespoon.
Preparation
Trim the excess fat from the pork neck and pound it into a thin rectangular layer. Mix crushed or finely grated garlic with salt, spices, oil, and apple cider vinegar to form a paste, and rub it onto the meat layer on both sides. Roll the pork into a log, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for one to two hours to marinate.
Prepare the filling. Chop the onion, slice the mushrooms thinly, and grate the cheese. Sauté the salted and peppered mushrooms with the onion in oil until lightly golden. Let the mixture cool, then add the grated cheese and mix well.
Spread the cooled and marinated meat evenly and place the filling on top (covering two-thirds of the layer, leaving space at the edges). Roll the pork with the filling tightly, tuck in the edges, and tie it with kitchen twine.
Transfer the stuffed roll to a baking dish, cover it with foil, and place it in a preheated oven at 180°C (350°F) for an hour. Towards the end of cooking, remove the foil, brush the roll with the glaze, and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
The roll is delicious both hot and cold. It is typically served as a cold appetizer (the finished dish should rest for 10–12 hours after cooking). In any case, after taking it out of the oven, let the dish rest for half an hour.
Life Hack
For a classic filling for the Poltava roll, you can use chopped boiled eggs or salted lard, and the cheese can be either hard or soft (like feta). In one variation of the recipe, Poltava housewives layer beaten, salted, and peppered lard with beaten fish fillet (boneless and skinless), and on top they add an omelet with poached carrots (a mixture of milk and eggs is poured onto a hot pan with fat and immediately sprinkled with finely chopped carrots, which become embedded in the omelet). The roll made from these layers of lard, fish, and omelet is tied with twine, baked in the oven until a crust forms, and then simmered for half an hour in a small amount of broth (the finished dish should be cooled).
