Bratlfettbrot

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Roasting tin large enough for the pork
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Sharp knife for scoring the skin
• •Wooden cutting board for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Season the pork

   Score the skin of the pork in a crosshatch pattern with a sharp knife, cutting through the fat but not into the meat. Rub the coarse salt, crushed caraway seeds, smashed garlic, marjoram, and pepper all over the meat, pressing the seasoning into the scored lines. The caraway and marjoram are not decoration. They're going to perfume the drippings as the pork roasts, and that's what you'll taste every time you spread this on bread. Let the pork sit at room temperature for thirty minutes while your oven heats.

   Crush the caraway seeds with the flat of a knife blade or a mortar and pestle. You want them cracked open, not powdered. Whole seeds slip off the meat. Cracked seeds stick and release their oils into the fat.
2. 2

   Roast the pork

   Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Place the pork skin-side up in a roasting tin and pour the water or beer into the bottom. The liquid keeps the drippings from burning on the pan and adds a gentle, rounded flavor to the fat as it renders. Roast for two and a half to three hours, basting every forty-five minutes with the juices that collect in the pan. The skin should crackle and turn deep golden brown. The fat beneath will have melted into the roasting liquid, carrying all that garlic and caraway with it.

   If you want extra-crisp crackling on the meat itself, raise the heat to 220°C for the last fifteen minutes. But watch it closely. The line between golden crackling and charcoal is about three minutes.
3. 3

   Collect the Bratlfett

   When the pork is done, lift it out of the tin and set it aside to rest. It's going to make wonderful eating on its own, but right now we're after what it left behind. Pour all the pan juices through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Use a spoon to scrape up any caramelized bits stuck to the roasting tin and press them through the sieve too. Those browned, sticky bits are concentrated flavor. Don't leave them behind.

4. 4

   Set the drippings

   Let the strained drippings cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until they set into a soft, spreadable paste. This takes at least four hours, overnight is better. The fat will firm up on top with the meatier jelly settled underneath. Some people separate the layers. I don't. Stir them together with a fork so you get streaks of rich, savory jelly running through the pale fat. That contrast is part of what makes Bratlfett so good. It should be spreadable but not liquid, something like soft butter on a cool morning.

   Taste the set Bratlfett before you serve it. If it needs more salt or a touch more marjoram, work it in with a fork. The seasoning can mellow as it cools, so adjust now.
5. 5

   Assemble the Bratlfettbrot

   Take your bread out. This has to be proper dark bread, Bauernbrot or Schwarzbrot, the kind with a thick crust and a dense, sour crumb that can hold up under a heavy spread. Sliced white bread will buckle and go soggy. Spread the Bratlfett thick. Don't be polite about it. You want a layer as thick as the bread itself, with the marbled fat and jelly visible on the surface. Lay raw white onion rings across the top, then finish with a generous pinch of flaky sea salt.

6. 6

   Serve as it's meant to be served

   Set the bread on a wooden board or a simple plate. No knife and fork. You pick this up with your hands. If you're doing it properly, have a Krügerl of Austrian beer beside it and eat standing up or sitting on a bench outside. This is not restaurant food. This is Heuriger food, Würstelstand food, the kind of eating that happens at the end of a long day when all you want is something honest and good. Mahlzeit!

Chef Tips

• •The pork cut matters. Shoulder gives you drippings with deep, meaty flavor. Belly gives you more fat and a silkier spread. Both work. If you can get a piece with the bone still in and the skin on, that's what you want. The skin renders slowly during roasting and enriches the drippings with body you can't get any other way.
• •Don't skip the caraway. I know it divides people, but caraway in pork drippings is as Austrian as it gets. If you leave it out, you've made flavored lard. Perfectly fine, but not Bratlfett.
• •Use a white onion, not red. Red onion is too sweet for this. You want that sharp, almost peppery bite that cuts through the richness of the fat. Slice the rings thin so they don't overwhelm the bread, but leave them raw. Cooked onion has no place here.
• •The bread must be sturdy. Austrian Bauernbrot or any dense, dark sourdough rye with a thick crust will hold the weight of the spread. If you can't find Bauernbrot, look for a good German-style Vollkornbrot at a bakery. Soft bread collapses under the Bratlfett and you end up eating it with a spoon, which rather defeats the purpose.

Advance Preparation

• •Bratlfett improves with a day in the fridge. Make the roast on Saturday, collect the drippings, and serve Bratlfettbrot on Sunday. The flavors deepen overnight as the caraway and garlic infuse further into the set fat.
• •Stored in a sealed jar in the fridge, Bratlfett keeps for two weeks. Press cling film directly against the surface to prevent oxidation.
• •Slice the onion just before serving. Cut onion rings go limp and lose their bite within an hour.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 170g)