Pfälzer Spießbraten

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Rotisserie spit or charcoal grill set for indirect cooking
• •Kitchen twine
• •Drip pan
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Sharp slicing knife

Instructions

1. 1

   Butterfly the pork

   Lay the pork neck fat side down and cut it open like a book, keeping one long hinge, then open it into an even slab about 2.5cm thick. If your butcher will do this cleanly, let them. The point is even thickness, because a lump with a thin tail dries at the edge before the middle is cooked, and the onion pocket has no proper place to sit.

2. 2

   Salt the onions

   Toss the sliced onions with 6g of the salt and squeeze them with your hands until they start to glisten and soften. That first salting matters. The onion must give up juice before it goes inside the meat, or it sits there as raw onion instead of melting into the fat. In a small bowl, mix the remaining 16g salt with the oil or lard, mustard, pepper, paprika, caraway, marjoram, and garlic if you're using it.

3. 3

   Fill and tie

   Rub the seasoning paste over both sides of the pork, then spread two-thirds of the onions over the inside, leaving a 2cm border all around. Roll the pork tightly around the onions and tie it with kitchen twine every 3cm. Tight is not tidy work for a photograph; tight keeps the onion pressed against the meat, where it can soften in pork fat instead of falling into the fire and turning bitter.

   Tie the roast before you worry about how it looks. A firm uneven roll cooks better than a pretty loose one. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
4. 4

   Marinate overnight

   Put the tied roast in a non-reactive dish, cover it with the remaining onions, scrape over any seasoning paste left in the bowl, cover, and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours, turning once. Das braucht seine Zeit. The salt seasons the pork all the way in, and the onion juice works into the seams of the neck; skip the night and you have grilled pork with onions, not Spießbraten.

5. 5

   Build the fire

   Take the roast from the refrigerator 30 to 45 minutes before cooking, while the fire settles, not all afternoon. Scrape the loose outside onions into a drip pan with the Riesling or water, but leave the onions trapped inside the roast. Loose onion over direct coals burns before the pork is ready; in the pan it catches fat and becomes the spooning onion at the end. Set up a rotisserie or indirect grill at 160 to 180C with the drip pan under the meat.

   Beech, oak, or fruitwood suits this roast. Skip softwood and lighter-fluid smoke. The fire should season the pork, not announce itself from the next street.
6. 6

   Roast and turn

   Mount the roast on the spit and cook it over the drip pan for 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes, turning steadily, until the crust is deep brown and the centre reads 70 to 72C on an instant-read thermometer. The steady turning is the dish. The fat in the pork neck renders evenly and bastes the onion from the inside; stop the turning or run the fire too fierce, and one side tightens while the other side scorches. Runter mit der Temperatur if the surface races ahead of the centre.

   No rotisserie is no disaster. Cook it indirect with the lid down and turn it a quarter turn every 15 minutes. It is less elegant and still supper.
7. 7

   Rest and finish

   Lift the roast to a board and rest it loosely covered for 20 minutes. Cut it now and the juice runs out onto the board, which is a poor sauce and a worse decision. While it rests, simmer the drip-pan onions until glossy and soft, adding the vinegar at the end so the fat has a sharp edge. Taste before serving. Nicht aus dem Glas.

8. 8

   Slice and serve

   Cut the Spießbraten across the roll into thick slices, 1.5 to 2cm, so every piece shows pork, onion, and crust. Spoon the pan onions and resting juices over the cut faces. Serve with rye bread, potato salad, cucumber salad, and mustard. Weggeworfen wird nichts: the onion juices left on the board go into tomorrow's bread or potatoes, not down the sink.

Chef Tips

• •Buy pork neck, not loin. Loin looks neat and dries out; neck has fat seams that melt slowly and carry the onion flavour through the meat.
• •Slice the onions thin and salt them first. A thick slice of onion inside a roast stays harsh in the middle, while thin salted onion collapses into the fat and becomes part of the pork.
• •Keep the fire moderate. This roast wants colour, not a burnt shell, and a lid temperature around 160 to 180C gives the centre time to cook before the crust goes too dark.
• •Use a thermometer. A stuffed and tied pork neck should finish around 70 to 72C in the centre, then rest. Guessing by crust colour is how you get a handsome roast with a sulking middle.
• •The next day, slice leftovers thick and put them on rye with mustard and the cold onions. Weggeworfen wird nichts.

Advance Preparation

• •Fill, tie, and marinate the roast 12 to 24 hours ahead. This is the make-ahead work that gives the pork its seasoning and the onion its chance to soften.
• •The drip-pan onions can be finished while the meat rests, then held warm for 30 minutes. Add the vinegar at the end so the brightness stays clean.
• •Cooked leftovers keep 3 days in the refrigerator. Reheat slices gently with a spoon of onion juices, or eat them cold on rye bread.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 240g)