Maiale al Latte

Name: Maiale al Latte
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 14 h 20 min
Yield: 4 serves
Ingredients: 1kg Pork Neck (Scotch Fillet) Roast; 12g Fine Salt; 4-5 Black Peppercorns; 1 tbsp Vegetable Oil; 25g Butter (unsalted); 3 Cloves; Pinch Cinnamon (ground); 1 Rosemary (fresh sprig); 3 Cloves Garlic; 1 Bay Leaf; 3 strips Lemon Peel; 1 litre Milk (full cream); to taste Salt & Pepper (freshly ground)

Italian classic of pork loin braised in milk, goodbye boring roast

John DrummondWritten 24 December 2017

Two pieces of roast pork loin on a platter, one sliced, under a caramel-coloured milk sauce — Photographed in JD’s kitchen

Prep20min

Cook2hr

All up

2hr 20min+ 12–24 hours

Serves4

LevelMedium

This a good alternative to a simple pork roast, with plenty of flavour. If you really want the crackling you can cook up the excess fat in the oven separately.

Revised in October 2026: pork neck instead of loin, salted overnight in the fridge, a litre of milk on hand, and the sauce reduced on its own once the pork is out. The revised version hasn’t been cooked yet. For the classic Bolognese cut, use an intact pork loin with its fat cap and take it out the moment it reads 75°C.

Good with soft polenta and a bitter leaf salad — radicchio or rocket, lemon, olive oil.

AI reviewed by Grok, Codex & Claude

The method

Seven moves.

Pork, Salt
Leave the fat on. Rub the pork all over with the 12g salt and the crushed pepper. Uncovered on a plate in the fridge, 12–24 hours. Never on the bench.
Pork, Brown
Pat it dry. Heat the oil and butter in a heavy cast iron french oven. When the foam begins to subside, brown the pork hard on every side, 10–15 minutes. Lift it out.
Aromatics, In
Cloves, rosemary, garlic and bay into the fat for 25 seconds; the cinnamon for the last 5. Don't let the garlic colour.
Milk, Add
Bring the milk to steaming in a separate saucepan. Pork back in, lemon peel in, then pour the hot milk in slowly, a third of the way up the meat. Keep the rest hot beside the stove.
Braise
Place the lid slightly askew and keep it at the barest simmer — a lazy bubble, never a boil. Turn the meat and baste every 20 minutes. If the pot is drying before the meat is done, add hot milk. Probe two spots from 75 minutes. Neck comes out at 78–80°C; loin the moment it reads 75°C. Onto a wooden board under loose foil, 10 minutes.
Sauce
Uncovered, reduce the milk on its own over the heat, scraping the bottom, until the curds are hazelnut-gold — not dark. Rosemary, bay, cloves and peel out. Mash the garlic in. Skim off any pooled fat. Resting juices back in. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Carve
Remove the string and carve the pork into slices about 7mm thick. Arrange on a warmed serving dish, pour a little of the sauce over the top and serve the rest in a warmed sauceboat.