Senfbrauten

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Serendipity strikes often, and often she saves the day. I had planned to make a grilled Serbian pork loin this weekend, but we were missing some key ingredients and it is the backside of our pay periods, so I was forced to find an alternative for my beautiful, locally-grown and butchered pork loin roast. I considered curing it and making Canadian bacon or a German counterpart with it, but The Beautiful Mrs. Tas made it clear that it was going to be prepared for our supper, and as usual, her wisdom was undeniable. 

I wanted to cook something different with it, rather than just make something we've done before, or - worse yet - simply salt-and-pepper it and throw it in the oven. Sure, this makes some great food, but what's the point of having all of this beautiful, "real" pork, when you can't turn it into something special? So I did a little digging.

For whatever reason, probably the changing from summer to autumn, I've really been feeling my "German-ness" lately. I won't bore you with an accounting of my German ancestry - you've all read about it on other posts; however, this time of year, it tends to call with a little more intensity. It's a call that tends to last through Christmas, so brace yourselves for more tales of Ron's quest for all things German. 

It didn't take me long to find this. It looked really good, so I decided to give it a try. I'm not sure of the origin of this recipe. It looks very similar to an Alsatian dish called Palette de Porc à la Diable, so my guess is that it could be Bavarian, but I make no definitive claim. If someone finds out, let me know!

Here's the recipe, with full acknowledgement to "The Daring Gourmet" -

 Traditional German Senfbraten(Mustard Pork Roast)

Serves 6

Ingredients:

2-pound pork roast
German mustard
Oil for frying
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon fresh chopped thyme
2 cups beef broth
2 carrots, cut in half

For the flour slurry:

3 tablespoons flour whisked into 1/2 cup beef broth

Instructions:

Rub the roast down with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Generously rub it down with German mustard.

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over high heat. Once hot, add the roast and generously brown on all sides. This will give the roast its wonderful flavor.

Add the onions and the butter and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Add the white wine and boil for 3 minutes until mostly evaporated.

Add the bay leaf, thyme, beef broth and carrots (they will add a touch of sweetness to the gravy). Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for at least 90 minutes until the roast is nice and tender. Alternatively, cook in an oven preheated to 325 degrees F for about 3 hours.

Discard the carrots and bay leaf. Transfer to the roast to a warmed platter and tent with foil to keep warm. Whisk in the flour slurry and simmer until thickened. Add a couple of teaspoons or so of mustard and salt and pepper to taste.

Slice the roast and serve with the gravy, potatoes and German sauerkraut.

http://www.daringgourmet.com/2014/04/29/traditional-german-senfbraten-mustard-gravy-pork-roast/

I'm making this right now; it's in the 90-minute "cooking" stage. One thing that I can say for sure is that this is very easy to prepare, and uses very common ingredients. I was even able to use thyme from my herb garden and a couple of (smaller) onions grown in my dad's garden. Using my Dutch oven gave the roast a beautiful sear, and the house is smelling wonderful, right now.

One departure from the recipe: Instead of using a slurry to thicken the sauce, I'll simply reduce it down to thicken it.

We'll see how it goes; I'll report back later! 