Roast pork with dark beer sauce

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 2 kg roast pork
• 2 tbsp oil
• Salt
• pepper
• 3 onions
• 1 large carrot(s)
• 100 g celery
• 3 potatoes
• 1 tsp powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 250 ml beer (dark beer)
• ½ tsp marjoram
• some lemon peel
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 liter of broth

Instructions

Working time approx. 45 minutes; Rest time approx. 10 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 2 hours 30 minutes; Total time approx. 3 hours 25 minutes

A classic and with this recipe everyone can do it!

The foundation of a good roast is the meat, which is why I always get my roast from my trusted butcher. Although many butchers are happy to do it for you, please do not have the roast scored in advance. Preheat the oven to approximately 130°C fan/convection oven. In the meantime, wash the meat and pat it dry. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a roasting pan and sear the roast on all sides (please do not sear the rind, that’s a big mistake!). Remove the seared meat from the roasting pan and season generously with salt and pepper (again, only the meat side, not the rind). Now pour about half of the stock into the roasting pan and add the roast, rind-side down. The rind should be well submerged in the stock. The roasting pan now goes into the oven for about an hour. After half an hour, I begin the further preparations. Peel the onions, halve them, and cut them into wedges. Peel the carrot and celery and cut into wider slices or into approximately 1 cm cubes. Finally, peel the potatoes and halve or quarter them depending on their size. Once the hour is up, remove the roast from the oven. Remove the roast from the roasting pan and collect the juices. Wipe the roasting pan dry with some kitchen paper. Preheat the oven to 160°C (top/bottom heat). The rind is now cooked until tender and can be easily scored. I cut the rind against the grain of the meat into strips about 0.5-1 cm wide (depending on how thickly you want to slice the roast). The diamond pattern looks beautiful, but when you cut into it later, the pieces of crust fall off, and everyone gets a different amount of that delicious crust. If you don’t know how the grain of the meat runs, just ask the butcher to show you how, and you won’t have any problems scoring the rind. I always use a utility knife for scoring, which I keep just for this purpose. Now it’s time to make the sauce. Brown the prepared vegetables (all except the potatoes) in a pan with the remaining oil. They should brown. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Sift the powdered sugar into the roasting pan and let it caramelize slowly (medium heat). Add the tomato paste and roast (about half a minute; it should still smell delicious, not burnt). Deglaze with a third of the beer and reduce. When it has the consistency of syrup, add another third of the beer and reduce again. Now add the final third of the beer and reduce again. Then deglaze with all of the stock (the stock collected from cooking the rind and the remaining unused stock). Add the browned vegetables and potatoes to the sauce. Place the roast (rind-side up) on top. The roasting pan will now go into the oven for about an hour. You don’t need to pay any attention to the roast. Please do not baste it under any circumstances. So just set a clock and wait. During this time, you can prepare the side dishes. After an hour, remove the roasting pan from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 220°C (top heat). Transfer the roast to a small dish, season the rind generously with salt, and then return it to the preheated oven for about 30 minutes. This completes the crust. Keep an eye on the roast at all times to prevent the crust from burning. Pour the sauce through a sieve into a saucepan. I now collect the potato and carrot pieces from the sauce (they make a delicious side dish) and keep them warm in a saucepan with a little sauce. I then squeeze the onions and celery thoroughly to ensure every last drop of sauce is retained. If there isn’t enough, you can add a little beer (you usually have some left over, as we always use 500ml bottles) or stock (depending on your taste). I then add a piece of lemon zest, the marjoram, the bay leaf, and the garlic and let the sauce simmer over low heat. If you prefer a thicker sauce, you can puree 1-2 pieces of potato to thicken the sauce. After about 10 minutes, season the sauce to taste. Remove the roast from the oven; it should now have a beautiful crust. I let it rest for another 10 minutes. Then slice it along the rind and serve with the sauce. My favorite side dishes are the carrots and potatoes from the stock, pretzel dumplings, and a green salad.