Roast pork

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 ½ kg pork shoulder or pork belly, with rind
• 1 m.-sized carrot(s)
• 1 stalk(s) leek
• 1 small onion(s)
• 1 clove(s) garlic
• 1 bottle of wheat beer
• 1 cube of gravy
• 2 tbsp sour cream
• Caraway seeds
• salt and pepper
• possibly chicken seasoning
• some clarified butter
• possibly cornstarch to bind

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 2 hours; Total time approx. 2 hours 45 minutes

Roast pork with extra crispy crust

Score the pork rind into small cubes. If you can, it’s best to have a butcher do the scoring. Otherwise, here’s a quick tip to make it easier: simply use poultry shears – it saves time and won’t hurt your hands as much. Then season the rind generously. Season the remaining sides of the roast with caraway, pepper, and salt (I also like to use chicken seasoning salt). Set the meat aside. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/convection oven. Trim the vegetables and cut them into approximately 2 cm long pieces. Melt a little clarified butter in a roasting pan and sear the roast on all sides – but not the rind. Place the vegetables in the roasting pan around the meat, crust facing up. Deglaze with approximately 1/3 of the beer and bring to a boil briefly. Crumble the gravy cube and add it to the stock. Add water until the liquid comes up to about halfway up the roast. Then place it in the hot oven for about 2 hours. Add water or a little beer every now and then. Always keep an eye on the crust so it doesn’t burn. After 2 hours, remove the meat from the roasting pan and pour the sauce through a sieve into a saucepan. Return the vegetables to the roasting pan, place the meat on top, and return it to the oven. Add the remaining beer to the sauce, season to taste, and bring to a boil. Then stir 2 tablespoons of sour cream into the sauce; do not let it boil any further. If the sauce is too thin, you can thicken it with a little cornstarch. Set the oven to broil and let the crust “pop.” Keep an eye on the roast so the crust doesn’t burn—this takes a maximum of 2 minutes, and you’ll have the crispiest crust ever. Remove the meat from the oven and cut into slices about 1 cm thick.