Cosciotto di Maiale al Coccio del Pastore Sassarese

• 1 4-inch stick cinnamon, crushed
• 10 whole cloves
• 1 tablespoon whole peppercorns
• 10 juniper berries
• 1 12-pound leg fresh pork, its bone intact, its fat well-trimmed
• 1 bottle plus 1 1/2 cups sturdy red wine
• 4 to 6 large leaves sage, torn
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary leaves
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon sweet butter
• 6 ounces pancetta, finely minced
• 2 large yellow onions, peeled and finely sliced
• 6 fat cloves garlic, peeled, crushed, and minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
• 1 cup late-harvest white wine

1. In a mortar with a pestle, grind the cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, and juniper berries to a coarse powder and rub the mixture well onto all the surfaces of the leg of pork, placing it, then, in a large, noncorrosive bowl.
2. Heat the bottle of red wine to a point just under the simmer, adding the sage leaves and the rosemary.
3. Cover the liquid; allowing it to steep for 30 minutes.
4. Pour the infusion over the spiced pork, covering the bowl tightly with plastic wrap (a conceit not dictated in the original formula) and permitting it to marinate for 6 hours at cool room temperature.
5. If you are a swineherd or a shepherd, a few hours under the shade of an oak tree seems just fine.
6. Strain the marinade from the meat, reserving it and discarding any remains from the spices and herbs.
7. Dry the pork with absorbent paper towels (conceit number two).
8. Meanwhile, in a very large terra-cotta or enameled cast-iron casserole, warm the olive oil with the butter, adding the pancetta and melting it in the fat.
9. Add the onion and garlic, rolling them about in the fat and softening them to transparency.
10. Remove the onion and garlic to a plate.
11. In the remaining fat, seal the leg of pork, sprinkling on sea salt and permitting the meat to crust and take on deep color.
12. The process takes at least 15 minutes.
13. When the pork is sealed, remove it to a holding plate.
14. Add the reserved marinade to the casserole, raising the flame, stirring, scraping at the residue for 1/2 minute before adding 1 cup of the additional red wine and 1 cup of the late-harvest wine along with the pork and the reserved onion and garlic.
15. Over a low flame, bring the liquids just to the point of simmering, cover the casserole with a slightly skewed lid, and braise the pork for 3 1/2 to 4 hours or until the internal temperature at the thickest part of the meat reads 155 degrees.
16. This is the point at which Mariuccia, the swineherds wife, ended her husbands recipe.
17. I add the following steps, which detract not a whit from the rusticity of the dish, but serve to intensify its flavors.
18. Remove the leg of pork to a holding plate and strain the sauce, pressing on and discarding the solids.
19. Return the sauce to the casserole and, over a lively flame, reduce it for 10 minutes.
20. Reacquaint the meat with its sauce, permitting the whole to cool completely, uncovered.
21. Skim any accumulation of fat, gently reheat the pork in its sauce, removing it to large, warmed platter.
22. Add the remaining 1/2 cup of wine to the sauce, heating it just to the point of simmering, pouring some over the pork.
23. At table, carve the leg into thin slices, offering it with more of its sauce, chunks of good bread, and a jug of red wine.

cinnamon, cloves, peppercorns, berries, pork, sturdy red wine, sage, rosemary, extravirgin olive oil, sweet butter, pancetta, yellow onions, garlic, salt, lateharvest white wine

Taken from www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/cosciotto-di-maiale-al-coccio-del-pastore-sassarese-391228 (may not work)