Vereshchaka - Pork and Beetroot Casserole

500 g Pork (spare rib or loin)

50 g Bacon, streaky

2 Onions

400 ml Beetroot rassol or kvas

1 tb Sugar

Salt to taste 6 Peppercorns, black

3 Allspice berries

2 tb Rye crumbs

- or oats - or barley Chervil, fresh - or lovage Cream, sour 1 tb Parsley, chopped

Cut the meat into cubes and brown in the bacon fat or with streaky bacon. Remove the meat from the pan and lightly brown the onions in the remaining fat. Transfer the meat, onions and bacon to a casserole add the beetroot rassol or other liquid, sugar, salt, peppercorms, allspice berries and grain, and set covered in a medium oven to cook for about one hour. If after half an hour the casserole seems too dry, water may be added until a satisfactory consistency is achieved. Serve sprinkled with fresh herbs and a little sour cream if liked. Beetroot Rassol - The liquid in which beetroot is preserved. Kvas - a Russian beer, sweet, mildly acid and mildly alcoholic made from wheat, rye, buckwheat and sometimes barley with sugar and water. From:The Food & Cooking of Russia by Lesley Chamberlain Penguin ISBN 0 14 046.471 9