Falscher Hase

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large mixing bowl
• •Small frying pan
• •Roasting dish or loaf-shaped baking dish
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Fine sieve

Instructions

1. 1

   Soak the roll

   Tear the stale roll into pieces and soak it in the milk for 10 minutes, then squeeze it hard in your fist until it is damp, not dripping. The bread is there to hold meat juice, not pour milk into the loaf; leave it wet and the roast splits and weeps in the oven.

2. 2

   Cook the onion

   Warm the lard in a small pan and cook the diced onion gently until soft and pale gold, then let it cool. Raw onion stays sharp inside a meatloaf and pushes water into the mince; cooked onion gives sweetness and keeps the slice clean.

   Do not brown the onion hard here. Dark onion tastes fine in sauce, but inside the loaf it turns bitter before the meat is cooked through.
3. 3

   Mix the meat

   Put the mince, squeezed bread, cooled onion, raw egg, mustard, salt, pepper, paprika, marjoram, and breadcrumbs in a bowl. Mix with your hand until the meat feels tacky and holds together when pressed, then stop. That tackiness is the protein binding; keep working after that and you build a tight little brick. Das ist kein Bierzelt.

4. 4

   Shape around eggs

   Heat the oven to 180C. Pat half the meat mixture into a long oval in a buttered roasting dish, lay the 3 hard-boiled eggs end to end down the centre, then cover with the remaining meat and seal the sides firmly. Press out air pockets around the eggs because trapped air opens cracks, and cracks let the juices run where they should stay.

5. 5

   Build the tray

   Scatter the carrot and sliced onion around the loaf, dot the loaf with butter, and stir the tomato paste into the vegetables. The vegetables and paste brown in the tray and give the sauce its base; without them you are boiling stock and calling it gravy. Nicht aus dem Glas.

6. 6

   Bake the loaf

   Bake uncovered for 45 minutes, until the crust is browned and the loaf feels firm. Pour the stock and dark beer or water around the loaf, not over the crust, and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the centre reaches 70C. Liquid goes in late so the crust has time to form; add it too early and the loaf stews pale.

7. 7

   Rest and sauce

   Lift the loaf to a board and rest it 10 minutes before slicing, because the juices need to settle back into the meat or they run across the board. Scrape the browned tray bits into the liquid, strain into a small pan, and simmer until rounded. Thicken with a little potato starch slurry if it needs body, then taste for salt and pepper. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss.

Chef Tips

• •Use mixed pork and beef. Beef alone eats dry, pork alone eats soft; together they give flavour and enough fat to keep the loaf kind.
• •The stale roll matters. Fresh bread turns gummy, dry packet crumbs alone make the loaf dull, and a soaked stale roll gives the old kitchen's answer: yesterday's bread doing today's work.
• •Hard-boil the eggs just set, then cool and peel them before shaping. Overcooked eggs bring a grey ring to every slice, and the dish already has enough brown without help.
• •Serve with boiled potatoes, mashed potatoes, pickled cucumbers, or red cabbage. The sharp things on the table are not decoration; they cut the fat and wake the plate up.
• •Cold leftovers slice better than hot ones. Put a slice on rye with mustard the next day. Weggeworfen wird nichts.

Advance Preparation

• •The hard-boiled eggs can be cooked and peeled one day ahead, then kept covered in the refrigerator.
• •The meat mixture can be mixed and shaped around the eggs up to 8 hours ahead; cover it and keep it cold, then let it sit 20 minutes at room temperature before baking so the centre cooks evenly.
• •Cooked Falscher Hase keeps 3 days in the refrigerator. Reheat slices gently in the sauce so the meat warms without drying.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 240g)