We are in Austria and roast pork is a national dish here. No different than in Bavaria, where we come from. So we prepare one for friends and family using the low-temperature method. It takes more than a day to achieve the perfect result, but very little of it involves labour. This is the wrong dish for a spontaneous meal.
Various cuts of meat can be used for a pork roast. However, no cut is more suitable for this preparation than the neck (also known as the rump or collar butt). In Austria, this cut is called “Schopf”. Other meat should not be used, as the dish depends on the fat content. There is a lot of fat in the neck, which not only gives it a lot of flavour, but also makes it particularly juicy. If you don’t like fat in meat, don’t worry: it is completely transformed with this method and ends up just as tender as the rest.
A crust from the skin of the pork, which is served with almost every roast pork in Bavaria, is not obtained here. If you want this, you have to choose a different piece of meat and a different method of preparation, which we will certainly explain later on.
A whole neck, as we use it today, usually weighs 2.2 – 2.5 kg. This is enough for 8 – 10 portions. Half a cut is therefore usually used. Even smaller portions should not be prepared, as the ratio of surface area to centre will otherwise be unfavourable for a juicy result.
We start with the seasoning, which needs to be strong. We use plenty of coarse sea salt, coarsely ground black pepper, ground caraway and coriander as well as garlic powder.
Usually, we use garlic powder very rarely, mostly for making sausages. In this case, however, it is more suitable than fresh garlic, which would quickly become bitter in the process. Many people do not cook with caraway, but it should definitely not be omitted here. Don’t worry, its flavour will end up being very subtle.
The meat is washed, dried and any coarse pieces of fat are removed. We then rub it thoroughly on all sides with our spice mix.
The meat is wrapped tightly in kitchen foil and placed in the fridge. It takes time to season such a large cut. Eight hours would be the absolute minimum for us. We give it a full day.
We then take the meat out of the fridge and leave it to warm up for an hour before searing it well on all sides in a large braising pan with a little neutral oil or clarified butter over a high heat. More colour means more flavour.
Again, we let it rest for an hour, this time to cool down. Then we coat the meat all over with medium-hot mustard (Dijon mustard).
Roast pork always needs a very good sauce, and in Bavaria they do it with dark beer. You start with flavoursome root vegetables, such as carrots, celery, leek and parsley root, if the latter is available. In Germany and Austria, this mix is often put together for precisely this purpose, namely the less attractive pieces that might otherwise be thrown away. This is called “Suppengrün” (which literally translates to soup greens) and that’s exactly what we got ourselves.
We wash these vegetables and cut them into large pieces. There is no need to peel them, they are only cooked and not eaten. We sauté them in the pan in which we roasted the meat and thereby use its flavour for the sauce.
After about 5 minutes on a medium-high heat, the vegetables start to become fragrant and we dust them with a little icing sugar for even more sweetness, which will later balance the bitterness of the beer.
After a further 5 minutes, we add quartered onions and whole, unpeeled garlic cloves, which we have only crushed once very firmly with the heel of our hand so that they release their flavour better.
We pour beer over it all, half of which is very strong, dark beer and the other half malt beer, which contains no alcohol and is quite sweet. We also add vegetable stock, bay leaves and whole parsley stalks.
Roast pork can be cooked at very different temperatures. The recipes range from 100 to 200 degrees Celsius. The cooking time is of course much shorter at higher temperatures. However, more time and lower temperatures are always recommended.
The desired core temperature (i.e. the temperature inside the cooked meat) for the neck is 68 degrees and this can basically be achieved with any oven temperature above this. We therefore prefer 80 degrees for an excellent and absolutely reliable result.
At such a low temperature, however, there is not much room for manoeuvre, as the meat needs to be cooked and processed hygienically. Therefore, you cannot rely on the oven display alone, unless you have an extremely modern and precise appliance at home. This is where a digital thermometer with cable and probe comes in handy. We recommend buying such a thermometer (e.g. ThermoPro TP16 – and no, we don’t advertise or get anything for that, it’s just a suitable product), which doesn’t have to cost more than 20 euros, because you can use it to measure the core temperature of your food and thus know exactly whether steak or fish is perfectly cooked without having to cut it open.
We switch the oven to top and bottom heat without convection and set it to just under 100 degrees. The thermometer cable is passed through the oven door so that the probe does not come into contact with metal. We then monitor the temperature and set the oven so that it averages 80 degrees. Most ovens will always fluctuate because their thermostat cuts off the energy supply if the temperature is too high and the oven then slowly cools down until the thermostat allows it to heat up again. In our case, the fluctuation today was around 8 degrees. But that doesn’t matter if the temperature doesn’t fall below 75 degrees and averages 80 degrees or a little above. But it shouldn’t be over 90 degrees, because that would significantly change the cooking time.
Then we place the braising pan with the sauce base on the bottom of the oven and the meat on a rack directly above it. This ensures that any meat juices released end up exactly where they belong, namely in the sauce.
It stays this way for at least 10 hours without you doing anything. The great thing about this method is that the meat cannot be overcooked due to the low temperature, it stays consistently good for hours. So 12 or even 14 hours would not be a problem. This is very practical if guests are running late.
We leave the meat to roast overnight and take it out of the oven the next morning. Despite the very low temperature, it has taken on a strong colour and is incredibly flavoursome on the outside. Inside, it is as tender as can be. Another advantage of this method is that the meat loses much less volume than when cooked at high heat, which pleases the restaurateur.
We immediately wrap the roast tightly in aluminium foil and leave it to rest. This is ALWAYS very important with cooked meat, it should never be removed directly from the heat and sliced or eaten. This also applies to grilled meat. It contracts under the heat and if you were to cut it now, the juices and flavour would just run out. If you leave it to rest, it relaxes and the juices are distributed throughout the meat, which also becomes more tender. You don’t have to worry about it getting cold – this would take a long time. And if necessary, you could also wrap the roast and put it back in the oven to keep it warm.
The sauce has also developed splendidly:
We pour it through a sieve and squeeze the vegetables well, then they have done their job and end up in the compost.
The sauce is now brought to the boil again and seasoned to taste. Depending on your preference, add salt, pepper or a splash of vinegar, always waiting a few minutes until the additional flavour has absorbed into the sauce before tasting and seasoning again.
Sauce for roast pork is generally not thickened, it should remain quite liquid. If you absolutely want it thicker, you can stir in flakes of cold butter with a whisk, but we don’t do this.
Now we cut our roast, which has been resting for 20 minutes. It doesn’t get cold at all during this time. And because we have given it this time, the juices remain in the meat and don’t run over our board. The little fat that is still visible separates completely from the muscle meat and has kept the roast juicy.
We serve with potatoes instead of the classic Bavarian potato dumplings – another dish we still need to explain. But we’ve already described how to make pretzel dumplings here (they’re the best anyway).
It comes with an almost obligatory side dish: coleslaw, the traditional version.
Enjoy.
And may the taste be with you.
Ingredients (for 8 – 10 people, otherwise halve):
1 whole pork neck of the best farming method and quality please, approx. 2.2 – 2.5 kg
2 tbsp each of coarse salt and black pepper
1 tbsp each of ground caraway, coriander and garlic powder
A little neutral oil or clarified butter for frying
3 tbsp medium-hot mustard (Dijon)
A total of 1 kg carrots, celery, parsley root (optional) and leek
3 onions
4 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp icing sugar
0.5 litre dark beer
0.5 litre malt beer
0.5 litre vegetable stock (or water)
4 bay leaves
½ bunch of parsley
Optional: a little cold butter
