Saarländischer Schwenkbraten

Schwenkbraten belongs to Saarland first, then to every garden where someone has hung a round grate over beech embers and decided dinner should move a little. It's outdoor food, May through September if the weather behaves, but it sits on a celebration table as easily as a weeknight one. Pork neck, onions, mustard, paprika, pepper, time. No theatre. Das ist kein Bierzelt.

The argument starts quickly. In Saarland the Schwenker is both the grill and the person standing beside it, and the meat is usually pork neck because its seams of fat forgive the fire. In the Hunsrück and along the Mosel you'll find versions with wine, sharper vinegar, or more herbs; some cooks swear by beer in the marinade, some by none at all. I keep it Saarland: onion-heavy, mustard-led, smoked over beechwood.

The technique that decides the dish is heat, not the marinade. Runter mit der Temperatur. Build embers, not flames, and let the grate swing so no one spot burns before the fat inside the neck has time to soften and baste the meat. Grill it too hot and you get black onion, tight pork, and a lecture from anyone within smelling distance.

The onions from the marinade are not rubbish. Weggeworfen wird nichts. Shake them off the meat so they don't burn on the grate, then cook them in a pan at the edge until sweet and dark. Put them back on top when the pork rests, and now the larder has done its work.