slurry

Pork Nirvana – “Schweinebraten Mit Kartoffelsalat & Bratensaft” – (Roast Pork With Potato Salad & Jus)

Schweinebraten Mit Kartoffelsalat & Bratensaft – “Roast Pork With Potato Salad & Jus”

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First of all, a word of warning:
This is NOT your typical American-or Latin –style, super-long cooked roast pork.
This is German / Bavarian-style roast pork, very juicy (no need to drown it in sauce to be able to swallow it), very delicious pork with a wonderful texture, more like a perfectly cooked steak than a stringy mess that falls apart when you barely touch it.
While I enjoy both versions (as you know from previous posts), today´s version is by far my favorite one. Assuming you have pork of perfect quality, roasting it this way outshines the “cooked-to-death” variation by a mile. 🙂
While the pictures seem to show pork which is still a bit undercooked, I can assure you it was fully cooked, extremely juicy, had the texture of a very tender steak and, surprise surprise, had a pure, unadulterated pork taste which was further enhanced with the slightly thickened pork jus which collected during the cooking in the drip pan beneath the roast and was enhanced with a generous jug of good quality Merlot.
In other words – Pork Nirvana. 🙂

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Bon Appétit ! Life is Good !
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Click here to see what happened to this particular Knuckle
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Click here for more Roast on ChefsOpinion
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Click here for a variety of Potato Salad Inspirations on ChefsOpinion
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Schweinebraten Mit Kartoffelsalat & Bratensaft – “Roast Pork With Potato Salad & Jus”

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures

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: cut the knuckle off the butt, use for another dish (see link on this pge)

: remove the meat from the bone towards the middle of the butt

: turn to the other side of the butt, repeat.; pull out the bone, roast together with the butt for the jus

: boneless butt without the knuckle

: score the skin halfway through the fat, either lenghtwise or cross wise

: season liberally with kosher salt, and white pepper to taste

: place on a rack over a drip pan filled with 2 cup water

: cook the pork at 375 F until an instant thermometer reads 155 F at the center / thickest part of the roast , remove the roast to a clean rack to rest for 15 to 30 minutes before carving: (the carry-over heat should take the temperature to 162 F in about 15 minutes; (162 F is my personal preference for pork to be served)

: please note that at this point, there is still un-rendered fat between the meat and the crisp skin (again, this is a personal preference)

: there should be about 1 cup of pork jus at this point (adjust with more stock or by reducing the jus at this point)

: add red wine or white wine according to your taste (I used 1 cup jus to 1 cup wine)

: strain, then thicken LIGHTLY with a cornstarch slurry, check / adjust the seasoning

: cut the roast as thick as you prefer, serve each portion with a few strips of crisp skin (chicharon)

: oh my………..

: nice and juicy………………

: drizzle with a bit of jus, serve with potato salad and mustard of your choice and / or grated horseradish

: Schweinebraten Mit Kartoffelsalat & Bratensaft – “Roast Pork With Potato Salad & Jus”

: Schweinebraten Mit Kartoffelsalat & Bratensaft – “Roast Pork With Potato Salad & Jus”

: Schweinebraten Mit Kartoffelsalat & Bratensaft – “Roast Pork With Potato Salad & Jus”

: Schweinebraten Mit Kartoffelsalat & Bratensaft – “Roast Pork With Potato Salad & Jus”

: Schweinebraten Mit Kartoffelsalat & Bratensaft – “Roast Pork With Potato Salad & Jus”

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Choucroute Garnie (Kleine Schlachtplatte)

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Today’s late lunch / early dinner has send me way back to my day’s of gluttony. I will have to live on apples for the next few days to make up for today’s culinary excess, but it was well worth it 🙂
After a few days of eating mostly fruits and vegetables, my cravings for some hearty soul food got the best of me and I gave in to my innermost desires of preparing and enjoying a beautiful “Choucroute Garnie”, also known in some parts of Swabia as “Kleine Schlachtplatte”.
(A “Kleine Schlachtplatte” consists of sauerkraut, boiled pig such as belly, loin, or knuckles, sausage such as blood pudding, fresh liverwurst or knackwurst and bread or potatoes – as opposed to a real “Schlachtplatte”, which is eaten only on the day of butchering and processing a Hog and usually consists of sauerkraut, boiled pigs head or belly, fresh liverwurst and fresh blood pudding. Obviously, I had to make do with a “Kleine Schlachtplatte” today, which nevertheless was divine and deeply satisfying.
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Bon Appetit ! Live is Good ! (And sometimes fattening) 😦 🙂
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More on Choucroute Garnie
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More on Schlachtplatte
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Choucroute Garnie (Kleine Schlachtplatte)

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: select a good quality sauerkraut for this dish

: cover fresh ham hocks with salted water, bring to a boil

: turn down to a simmer, cook until tender but NOT falling apart

: meanwhile, saute onions in bacon fat, when onions are translucent, add sauerkraut

: add stock from the ham hocks, season with cayenne pepper, garlic paste and a dash of sugar

: simmer sauerkraut until most of the liquid has evaporated, about 30 minutes

: add a bit of corn starch slurry to bind the juices

: check / adjust the seasoning

: add smoked pork chops, blood sausages (morcilla) and the knuckles, cover and simmer for another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the sauerkraut does not burn at the bottom

: meanwhile, saute small cooked potatoes in bacon fat with caraway seeds, season with kosher salt and cayenne pepper

: Choucroute Garnie (Kleine Schlachtplatte)

: Choucroute Garnie (Kleine Schlachtplatte)

: Choucroute Garnie (Kleine Schlachtplatte)

: Choucroute Garnie (Kleine Schlachtplatte)

: Choucroute Garnie (Kleine Schlachtplatte)

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Mushrooms And Udon Noodles In Oyster Sauce

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It seems to me that the biggest return (culinary bliss and satisfaction) for the smallest investment (time, money and work) was, is and always will be, the preparation of food.
While there are of course very expensive, time-consuming, complicated and labor intensive dishes to be had, the majority of great food can be prepared in a snap. The following is just one of these dishes. All ingredients can be had for a few bucks and the actual prep and cooking time is only about 15 minutes.
So folks, please don’t say you don’t have time to cook. Just face your demon’s and admit that you don’t like to cook 🙂 😦 .
On the other hand, if you don’t know how to cook, that’s a whole different story. For you I have a simple solution to that malady : Follow my blog and get inspiration for simple dishes and instructions how to prepare them- this will be the first step to help you overcome the biggest hurdle, because most of the instructions on ChefsOpinion are dead-simple and require only the most basic culinary knowledge to produce great results.
First step – start trying………. 🙂
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Bon Appetit ! You Can Do It !!!
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More Udon dishes on ChefsOpinion
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Mushrooms And Udon Noodles In Oyster Sauce

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Mushrooms And Udon Noodles In Oyster Sauce

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Preparation :
To read instructions, hover over pictures
To enlarge pictures and read instructions, click on pictures
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: cook udon noodles in salted water, drain, coat lightly with sesame oil

: prepare a slurry of cornstarch and water

: stir fry sliced onions and fresh, quartered shiitake mushrooms until onions lightly caramelized

: add oyster mushrooms, saute another minute, add oyster sauce, soy sauce, garlic paste, grated ginger, chili sauce and a bit of chicken stock or water

: stir-in slurry

: simmer a few seconds

: add seafood mushrooms, remove from heat, mix well, check / adjust seasoning

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: plate udon noodles

: top with mushrooms

: for a bit of crunch, top with scallions and mung bean sprouts

: Mushrooms And Udon Noodles In Oyster Sauce

: Mushrooms And Udon Noodles In Oyster Sauce

: Mushrooms And Udon Noodles In Oyster Sauce

: Mushrooms And Udon Noodles In Oyster Sauce

: Mushrooms And Udon Noodles In Oyster Sauce

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Szechuan Hot & Sour Soup 酸辣汤

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Spicy lunch (I made it VERY spicy), washed down with lemon ice tea while
watching “The Great Gatsby”.
Perfect Saturday so far 🙂

Bon Appetit ! Life is Good !

Saute shrimp, dried shrimp, squid, garlic paste and grated ginger in peanut oil for one minute. Add chicken stock, salt, chili sauce, soy sauce and sesame oil. Bring to a simmer, add sliced water chestnuts, soaked and cooked wood ears and small amount of cornstarch slurry. Add whisked eggs, stir slowly in one direction only. As soon as eggs have set into long, thin strands, remove soup from fire. Check/adjust seasoning. Add cubed tofu. To serve, sprinkle with sliced scallions and fried onion julienne.
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