Schweinebraten
A German roast pork shoulder with a crackled rind, roasted for 2 hours on onions with dark beer and caraway.
Photograph credit: Schweinebraten Goldener Adler Mürsbach by Benreis · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · this resized copy is shared under the same licence
Storing and Planning Ahead
Keeps for 3 days in the fridge. Reheat the crackling in a hot oven.
Making Schweinebraten
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Heat the oven to 160°C / 320°F. Score the rind in a diamond pattern and rub with the salt and caraway.
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Set the onions, carrots, celery and garlic in a tin and pour in the beer and stock. Put the pork on top, rind up and dry.
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Roast for 1 hour 45 minutes.
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Turn the oven to 230°C / 445°F and roast for 15 minutes until the rind is crackling. Rest for 20 minutes.
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Strain the juices into a pan, stir in the cornflour mixed with a little water and simmer for 5 minutes. Slice the pork and serve with the gravy.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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A Few Pointers
- Keep the rind dry so it crisps.
- Finish at a high heat for the crackling.
- Rest the pork before carving.
Some Background
Keep the heat low. Schweinebraten is the Bavarian Sunday roast, a piece of pork shoulder with the rind on, cooked slowly so the meat is tender and the rind finishes as crisp crackling.
Score the rind in a diamond pattern with a sharp knife, cutting through the skin but not into the meat, and rub salt and caraway into the cuts. Set the pork on a bed of onions, carrots and celery in a tin, and pour in dark beer and stock around, not over, the rind. Keep the rind dry, because wet skin cannot crisp. Roast at 160°C / 320°F for 1 hour 45 minutes.
Turn the oven up to 230°C / 445°F for the last 15 minutes, until the rind has blistered and crackles. Rest the meat for 20 minutes, covered loosely. Meanwhile strain the juices and vegetables into a pan, thicken with a little cornflour and simmer for 5 minutes. Slice and serve with dumplings or potatoes, red cabbage and the dark gravy.
What to Put Next to It
Potato dumplings · Red cabbage · Dark beer · Mustard
Sides from the same cuisine on this site: German Red Cabbage, Gurkensalat, Kartoffelklosse.
Ingredient Swaps
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
Quick Answers
How long does Schweinebraten take to make?
20 minutes of preparation and 2 hours of cooking, plus 20 minutes of resting, so allow 2 hours 40 minutes from start to finish. The recipe serves 6.
Schweinebraten Nutrition Facts
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. The calories include 2 g of alcohol a serving, which is not part of the protein, carbohydrate or fat. How the figures are worked out.
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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