Schweinebraten
Bayerischer Schweinebraten: Bavarian roast pork shoulder with crackling and dark beer gravy
GermanSchweinebraten is the Sunday roast of Bavaria, the dish a Munich family sits down to after church and the one every village inn chalks up on its board. This is pork shoulder with its rind still on, roasted on a bed of onion, carrot and celeriac while the rind blisters into crackling, and the gravy is built from the roasting juices and a bottle of dark beer. The beer contains alcohol; most cooks off but not all, so use alcohol-free dark beer, or the same amount of beef stock with 1 tsp dark molasses, for a gravy without it. Serve with bread or potato dumplings and warm cabbage salad. Chef's tip: score the rind through to the fat but not into the meat, or juices leak up and the crackling turns leathery.
- Total time
- 190 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 6
Ingredients
For the pork
For the roasting tray and gravy
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What you'll need
Fresh ingredients (4)
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Method
0/9 doneStep 1: Heat the oven to 350°F (325°F fan). With a very sharp knife, score the rind of the 4 lb pork shoulder with rind into a 1.5 cm diamond pattern, cutting through the rind into the fat but not into the meat.
10 minStep 2: Mix the 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp black pepper, 2 tsp caraway seeds, 3 cloves garlic and 1 tsp dried marjoram and rub it all over the meat side and into the cuts. Keep the rind itself mostly free of garlic, which burns.
5 minStep 3: Put the joint rind-side down in a roasting tin and pour in 2 cm of the 1 cup hot water. Roast for 30 minutes; this softens the rind so it can puff later.
30 minStep 4: Turn the joint rind-side up. Scatter the 2 onions, 2 carrots and 5 ½ oz celeriac around it and pour in the rest of the 1 cup hot water. Roast for 1 hour, basting the meat (not the rind) now and then and topping up with a little water if the tin runs dry.
60 minStep 5: Pour half the ¾ cup dark beer over the vegetables, not the rind. Roast for 45 minutes more, until a thermometer in the thickest part reads at least 145°F; for sliceable, tender shoulder Bavarians take it to about 176°F.
45 minStep 6: Turn the oven up to 450°F (400°F fan), or switch on the grill, and blast the rind for 10–20 minutes until it bubbles and crackles all over. Watch it closely; it goes from blistered to burnt in a couple of minutes.
15 minStep 7: Lift the joint onto a board and rest it uncovered for 15 minutes. Covering it now is the common mistake: the steam softens the crackling you just made.
15 minStep 8: Meanwhile, pour the rest of the ¾ cup dark beer into the tin and scrape up the brown bits. Press everything through a sieve into a pan, skim off most of the fat, and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in the 1 tbsp cornflour and bubble for 1 minute until it lightly coats a spoon. Taste for salt.
10 minStep 9: Cut the crackling along the score lines, slice the meat 1 cm thick, and serve each plate with a piece of crackling and plenty of gravy.
5 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 620 kcal
- Protein
- 48 g
- Carbs
- 8 g
- Fat
- 42 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does schweinebraten take?
- About 190 minutes in total: 25 minutes to prepare and 165 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 6 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- What can I use instead of garlic?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
- What can I use instead of onions?
- 2 shallots per onion.
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