The homeland of this simple, but divine pork roast is Torda, a town near Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca) in Transylvania. Roast of Torda is usually served as a part of the Fatányéros (Mixed Grill), which is a dish containing different pan-fried or grilled meats on a wooden platter.

This roast was made originally at the fair of Torda and it was sold with fermented cucumbers and white bread. Torda is famous, among others, for its salt mine; that natural, untreated salt was used to brine the pork in a 6% salt solution.

Tordai pecsenye is usually made from skin-on pork loin, but blade stake or pork belly can be suitable as well. Meat is brined for at least 3-4 hours, but brining can last up to 10 hours. It’s recommended to cut slits on the edge of the meat slices otherwise they will curl during frying. If you use skin-on, fatty meat, spread the skin and fat with milk before frying, so they will become crispy.