Schweinsbraten mit Semmelknödel und Kraut
Roast pork seasoned with garlic and caraway, served with bread dumplings, braised cabbage and the roasting juices.
- prep
- 30 min
- cook
- 2 h
- total
- 2 h 30 min
- serves
- 6
- level
- medium
Schweinsbraten is Austria's Sunday roast, pork rubbed with garlic and caraway and roasted slowly until tender, served with bread dumplings and a tangy braised cabbage.
Caraway shows up twice, in the pork rub and again in the cabbage, and it's one of the flavors that most clearly marks this as distinctly Austrian.
Part of our 20 best Austrian recipes list.
method
Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F). Rub the pork all over with garlic, caraway, salt and pepper, pushing some of the seasoning into the scored skin if present.
Place the pork on top of the chopped onion in a roasting pan, and pour in the beer or stock.
Roast, basting occasionally, for about 2 hours, until the meat is very tender. If the skin is on, raise the heat to 220°C (430°F) for the last 20 to 25 minutes to crisp it.
Meanwhile, soak the bread cubes in the warm milk for 10 minutes, until softened. Mix in the eggs and parsley, season, and shape into a log or large dumplings.
Wrap the dumpling mixture in a clean cloth or plastic wrap, and simmer in a pot of water for 20 to 25 minutes, until firm. Slice to serve.
For the cabbage, melt the butter in a pan, add the shredded cabbage, vinegar, sugar and extra caraway, and cook, covered, for 20 to 25 minutes, until soft.
Rest the pork, then carve. Strain the pan juices, and serve the pork with the sliced dumplings, braised cabbage and the juices spooned over.
chef's tips
- Caraway is doing a lot of work here, in the meat rub and again in the cabbage, and it's one of the flavors that most clearly marks this as Austrian rather than, say, an Italian pork roast.
- Semmelknödel, the bread dumplings, use genuinely stale bread; fresh bread turns the mixture gummy rather than giving it that light, bready texture.
- Basting the pork with its own pan juices through the roast keeps the meat from drying out over the long cooking time.
- This is one of the most common Sunday lunch dishes across the country, and it travels well as leftovers, especially the dumplings, sliced and fried in a little butter.