NT pork fillet wrapped in bacon with mushrooms and spaetzle

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 650 g pork fillet(s)
• 150 g bacon, cut as long as possible
• 3 tbsp oil, alternatively clarified butter
• 750 g mushrooms, preferably brown
• 50 g butter
• 100 g diced bacon, alternatively diced bacon
• 2 m.-sized onion(s)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 200 ml cream
• 100 ml crème fraîche
• 100 ml broth
• 100 ml white wine
• some Worcestershire sauce
• some salt and pepper
• possibly flour or Mondamin to bind
• n. B. herbs (parsley, chives, etc.)
• 400 g spaetzle
• 1 tsp, heaped salt
• 2 tbsp oil
• some butter

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Cooking/baking time approx. 2 hours 6 minutes; Total time approx. 3 hours 6 minutes

Meat alone is also excellent for a cold buffet the next day

Place a flat platter (or a large plate) in the oven and preheat it to 80°C for about half an hour. Check the temperature with an oven thermometer if possible. Take the pork fillet out of the refrigerator one hour before searing so that the meat can reach room temperature even in the core. If the butcher hasn’t done so already, trim the meat (i.e. remove any tendons, membranes, fat, etc.). If you have a whole pork fillet, fold over the end until you have a piece of meat of roughly the same thickness. Season the fillet with salt (only a little because of the bacon!) and pepper. Lay out bacon slices overlapping each other, a width equal to the length of the fillet. Cover both ends of the fillet with one or two (possibly halved) bacon slices, depending on the thickness. Place the fillet on the laid out slices and roll up. Secure the bacon wrapping either with kitchen string or (I prefer this for handling reasons) with roulade pins. Heat oil or clarified butter in a large casserole dish and fry the fillet on all sides until browned/crispy, about 6 minutes. Both sides of the head should also be seared, holding the fillet upright with tongs or a folded paper towel. Then, using a meat thermometer, place the meat on a platter/plate in the preheated oven for about 2 hours and bring to the desired internal temperature (about 60°C for a pink center). Remove any fat from the meat in the casserole dish and loosen it with a little white wine or stock, then set aside for later use. Half an hour before the end of cooking, peel and dice the onions, peel the garlic cloves and cut into small slices/dice, and clean the mushrooms, cutting them into 2, 4, or 6 pieces, depending on their size. Melt the butter in a large pan, fry the bacon, and sauté the onions and garlic. Add the mushrooms and tomato paste, season with salt and pepper, and fry until almost no liquid remains. Meanwhile, heat the cream, crème fraîche, stock, and wine in a casserole dish along with the remaining juices. At the same time, you can also boil the water for the spaetzle. Add the fried mushrooms to the casserole dish and simmer gently for about 5 minutes, adding finely chopped herbs if desired. Then season to taste with Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper. If the mushroom mixture is too runny, you can thicken it with flour/Mondamin if necessary. Cook the spaetzle in salted water with 2 tablespoons of oil according to the instructions until al dente, drain, and—if not serving immediately on warmed plates—toss briefly in a little melted butter. Slice the meat (a sharp knife or an electric knife will leave the crispy bacon untouched) and serve with the mushroom mixture and spaetzle. A few tips for those interested: It is advisable to preheat the dinner plates along with the meat platter beforehand. They will then be relatively hot (80°C), but this is also a good idea, since with low-temperature cooking the meat naturally does not arrive very hot on the plate and would then cool down even faster. You should not put them in the oven with the meat in between, as this interrupts the low-temperature cooking process too much. When searing the ends of the fillet, I have found that holding the fillet in my hand with kitchen paper. To do this, fold a sheet of kitchen paper in half and just be careful not to burn yourself on the hot fat and that the paper absorbs the hot fat. You can then comfortably hold the fillet upright for about 30 seconds while searing the end. The problem with kitchen tongs is that they are much more likely to shift or even destroy the bacon casing.