Chef Lesia
Bytky Ukrainski (битки українські, pounded cutlets)
The first sound is the meat against the board: flat, sharp, changing as the fibres loosen. Fry the cutlets fast, then let onion gravy do the soft finishing.
Culinary Explorer
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Buzhenyna (буженина, garlic-studded roast pork)
Created by
A whole pork neck takes garlic into little knife pockets, roasts until the crust goes dark and fragrant, then rests overnight so every cold slice tastes better than shop ham.
Main Dishes
Ukrainian
Special Occasion
Easter
Make Ahead
25 min
Active Time
2 hr 15 min cook•14 hr 40 min total
Yield10 to 12 servings
The best slice of buzhenyna is cold, not hot. That surprises people. The roast comes out of the oven smelling like garlic, pepper, bay leaf and browned pork fat, and everyone wants to cut it immediately, but the dish becomes itself later, after the juices settle and the garlic has crept through the meat overnight.
This is holiday pork for a table that expects people to keep arriving. Easter, Christmas, a name day, any day when the plates are too many and the fridge is already crowded. You roast one generous neck, tuck it away, and the next morning there it is: thin slices for the first guests, thicker ones for the hungry cousin, a little sharp horseradish beside it, black bread if you have sense.
The one thing that decides it is the resting. Salt and garlic need time to travel inward, and after roasting the meat needs to cool before the knife goes in. Aunt Nadia wrote only, "let it sleep under paper," which is typical of her, as if paper were a unit of measurement. She was right. Wrap it, chill it, then slice against the grain and watch the meat hold its juice instead of spilling it all over the board.
Don't chase perfection. Pork neck is forgiving, pork shoulder works, even a leaner loin can be made to behave with extra care and more fat on top. But don't skip the garlic pockets. They are the memory of the dish.
Buzhenyna is a festive Ukrainian cold roast, common on Easter and Christmas tables beside paska, krashanky, kovbasa, horseradish, and pickles. Ukrainian household cookbooks from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries describe it as a whole piece of pork, usually ham, shoulder, or neck, rubbed with garlic, pepper, bay leaf, and salt, then baked and cooled for slicing. Its survival is very domestic: less a restaurant dish than a holiday answer to how one roast can feed a full table for several days.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
pork neck or boneless shoulder
Quantity
2 kg
in one piece
garlic cloves
Quantity
10
6 cut into slivers and 4 crushed
fine sea salt
Quantity
2 tablespoons
black pepper
Quantity
1 tablespoon
freshly ground
sweet paprika
Quantity
2 teaspoons
ground coriander
Quantity
1 teaspoon
caraway seeds
Quantity
1 teaspoon
lightly crushed
bay leaves
Quantity
2
crumbled
Ukrainian mustard or Dijon mustard
Quantity
2 tablespoons
unrefined sunflower oil
Quantity
2 tablespoons
honey (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for a darker crust
onions
Quantity
2
thickly sliced
water, apple cider, or light beer
Quantity
120ml
fresh horseradish or mustard (optional)
Quantity
to serve
dill pickles or kvasheni pomidory (optional)
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| pork neck or boneless shoulderin one piece | 2 kg |
| garlic cloves6 cut into slivers and 4 crushed | 10 |
| fine sea salt | 2 tablespoons |
| black pepperfreshly ground | 1 tablespoon |
| sweet paprika | 2 teaspoons |
| ground coriander | 1 teaspoon |
| caraway seedslightly crushed | 1 teaspoon |
| bay leavescrumbled | 2 |
| Ukrainian mustard or Dijon mustard | 2 tablespoons |
| unrefined sunflower oil | 2 tablespoons |
| honey (optional)for a darker crust | 1 tablespoon |
| onionsthickly sliced | 2 |
| water, apple cider, or light beer | 120ml |
| fresh horseradish or mustard (optional) | to serve |
| dill pickles or kvasheni pomidory (optional) | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •A small sharp knife
- •A roasting tin just larger than the pork
- •Kitchen twine, if the pork needs tying
- •A meat thermometer, useful but not required
- •A sharp carving knife
Instructions
- 1
Pierce the pork
Pat the pork dry. With a small sharp knife, make deep narrow cuts all over the meat, following the grain when you can, then push a garlic sliver into each pocket. Don't make grand holes. You want little hidden seams of garlic, not tunnels where the juices run away.
Pork neck is my first choice because the fat runs through it like good sense. Shoulder works well too. Loin is leaner, a bit more modern for this dish, and needs gentler roasting. - 2
Rub and rest
Mix the crushed garlic, salt, pepper, paprika, coriander, caraway, bay leaves, mustard, sunflower oil, and honey if using. Rub it into every side of the pork, getting it into the folds. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours, better overnight, until the meat smells seasoned all the way through rather than only salty on the surface.
This rest is the step that doesn't forgive rushing. The oven can be flexible, the spices can bend, but salt and garlic need time to travel inward. - 3
Warm the meat
Take the pork out of the fridge about an hour before roasting so the chill comes off. Heat the oven to 220C. Lay the onion slices in a roasting tin, pour in the water, cider, or beer, and set the pork on top, fat side up if there is a clear fat side.
- 4
Start the crust
Roast hot for 20 minutes, until the outside darkens in spots and the mustard rub smells nutty instead of raw. You should hear a lively sizzle from the tin. If the onions are catching too fast, add another splash of liquid around them, not over the pork.
- 5
Roast it gently
Lower the oven to 160C and roast until the pork feels firm but still springy when pressed with tongs, about 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 50 minutes more for this size. If you use a thermometer, look for 68 to 72C in the centre; if you cook by hand, slide in a skewer and press near the hole, the juices should run clear with a blush of gold, not red.
The smell changes near the end. Raw garlic sharpness disappears, the pork fat turns sweet, and the crust smells like roasted bay and pepper. That's your kitchen telling you to start checking. - 6
Rest under paper
Lift the pork onto a board and tent it loosely with baking paper or foil for at least 40 minutes. For hot slices, cut thick and spoon the oniony pan juices over. For proper buzhenyna, cool it completely, wrap it tightly, and refrigerate overnight.
- 7
Slice it cold
The next day, slice thinly across the grain with a sharp knife. The crust should crackle a little under the blade, the inside should be rosy-beige and juicy, and the garlic pockets should show as pale little sparks. Serve with horseradish, mustard, dill pickles, or fermented tomatoes.
Chef Tips
- •Make this with pork neck if you can find it. It has enough fat inside the muscle to stay juicy after cooling, which is exactly why it beats shop ham.
- •If the roast is browning too hard, cover it loosely for the gentle roasting stage. If it looks pale near the end, uncover and give it a final hot blast until the crust wakes up.
- •For Easter, I slice it cold and pile it on a platter with horseradish, krashanky (dyed eggs), pickles, and paska nearby. The table does the rest.
- •Leftovers make excellent open sandwiches on rye or black bread with mustard and cucumber pickle. Chop the ragged ends into fried potatoes the next morning and say nothing to anyone until you've eaten your share.
- •The spice rub is not a prison. Some families use more bay, some use coriander, some add a little allspice. Keep the garlic pockets and the overnight rest, and the dish still knows its name.
Advance Preparation
- •Rub and refrigerate the pork overnight before roasting, at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours.
- •Buzhenyna is best roasted the day before serving, cooled, wrapped, and chilled overnight for clean slicing.
- •Cooked buzhenyna keeps 4 days in the fridge, tightly wrapped. Slice only what you need so the rest stays juicy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 170g)
Calories
450 calories
Total Fat
31 g
Saturated Fat
10 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
19 g
Cholesterol
110 mg
Sodium
1600 mg
Total Carbohydrates
6 g
Dietary Fiber
1 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
36 g
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