Chef Klaus
Birnen, Bohnen und Speck
Schleswig-Holstein's sweet-salt bean pot, where small cooking pears go in whole beside Speck, smoked bacon, and the one rule is simple: keep the simmer low so the pears hold.
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Holsteiner Sauerfleisch
Created by
The Schleswig-Holstein cold table done properly: pork cooked gently in a sharp-sweet broth, set in its own clear jelly, then sliced with fried potatoes and remoulade.
Main Dishes
German
Make Ahead
Special Occasion
35 min
Active Time
2 hr 15 min cook•10 hr 50 min total
Yield6 servings
Holsteiner Sauerfleisch belongs to Schleswig-Holstein, to the cold table, to make-ahead cooking, and to the north that knows what vinegar and time can do. You cook the pork with bay, onion, pepper, and vinegar, then set it cold in a clear aspic, a Sülze, jelly, firm enough to slice and bright enough to wake up a plate of Bratkartoffeln, fried potatoes.
The regions disagree because they should. In the north, the balance runs söötsuur, sweet-sour, and the meat is served cold with remoulade. In Swabia you find Sulz with more pork rind and sometimes darker seasoning; in Bavaria the Presssack line is closer to sausage than to this clean northern jelly. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. Das ist kein Bierzelt.
The technique that decides it is the simmer. Keep the pot at a tremble, never a hard boil, because a rolling boil clouds the broth, tightens the pork, and breaks the clean jelly you want later. The rind, bones, and pig's foot give collagen to the liquid, so Weggeworfen wird nichts, nothing gets thrown away. Strain carefully, taste sharply, and test a spoonful cold before you pour. If it doesn't set, you add gelatine and get on with dinner.
I serve it cold, sliced thick, with hot fried potatoes and a spoon of remoulade. The hot potatoes, cold sour pork, and creamy sauce do the work. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
Sauerfleisch sits in the Schleswig-Holstein and northern German Sülze tradition, where cooked meat was preserved for several days under an acidulated jelly before household refrigeration made that less necessary. The sweet-sour seasoning, called söötsuur in Low German, belongs to the coastal and Hanseatic north, where vinegar, onions, bay, pepper, and stored winter roots shaped everyday meat cookery as much as fresh herbs did further south. Its usual pairing with Bratkartoffeln and remoulade marks it as a cold-table dish, closer to a northern Gasthof plate than to the roast-and-dumpling cooking of the Alpine south.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
boneless pork shoulder or neck
Quantity
1.2kg
trimmed but not lean
pork rind or split pig's foot
Quantity
500g rind or 1 pig's foot
onion
Quantity
1 large
halved
carrots
Quantity
2
roughly chopped
celeriac or celery stalks
Quantity
1 small piece or 2 stalks
chopped
bay leaves
Quantity
2
black peppercorns
Quantity
10
allspice berries
Quantity
6
juniper berries
Quantity
4
lightly crushed
yellow mustard seeds
Quantity
1 teaspoon
water
Quantity
750ml
white wine vinegar
Quantity
300ml
fine sea salt
Quantity
2 teaspoons, plus more to taste
sugar
Quantity
1 tablespoon, plus more to taste
leaf gelatine or powdered gelatine (optional)
Quantity
8 sheets or 16g
gherkins (optional)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
chopped
remoulade
Quantity
to serve
Bratkartoffeln, fried potatoes
Quantity
to serve
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| boneless pork shoulder or necktrimmed but not lean | 1.2kg |
| pork rind or split pig's foot | 500g rind or 1 pig's foot |
| onionhalved | 1 large |
| carrotsroughly chopped | 2 |
| celeriac or celery stalkschopped | 1 small piece or 2 stalks |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| black peppercorns | 10 |
| allspice berries | 6 |
| juniper berrieslightly crushed | 4 |
| yellow mustard seeds | 1 teaspoon |
| water | 750ml |
| white wine vinegar | 300ml |
| fine sea salt | 2 teaspoons, plus more to taste |
| sugar | 1 tablespoon, plus more to taste |
| leaf gelatine or powdered gelatine (optional) | 8 sheets or 16g |
| gherkins (optional)chopped | 2 tablespoons |
| remoulade | to serve |
| Bratkartoffeln, fried potatoes | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 4 to 5 litre pot
- •Fine sieve and clean cloth
- •Loaf tin, terrine, or shallow glass dish
- •Cold plate for testing the gel
Instructions
- 1
Set the pot
Put the pork, rind or pig's foot, onion, carrots, celeriac, bay, peppercorns, allspice, juniper, mustard seeds, water, vinegar, salt, and sugar into a heavy pot. The rind and foot are not decoration; they give the broth the collagen it needs to set, so you don't have to build the whole dish out of a packet.
- 2
Simmer gently
Bring the pot just to a bare simmer, skim the grey foam as it rises, then runter mit der Temperatur, down with the temperature. Keep the surface trembling for about 1 hour 45 minutes, until a skewer slides into the pork with little resistance. A hard boil makes cloudy jelly and dry meat, and cloudy Sauerfleisch looks like you stopped paying attention.
Do not cover the pot tightly. A half-covered pot lets the broth reduce enough to strengthen the gel, while a sealed pot traps too much water and leaves the aspic weak. - 3
Cool the meat
Lift the pork out onto a board and cover it loosely while you strain the broth. Let the meat cool until you can handle it, because hot pork tears into fibers and cold pork slices cleanly. Remove the rind or foot, picking off any useful soft bits if you like; Weggeworfen wird nichts, but gristle goes in the bin.
- 4
Strain and taste
Strain the broth through a fine sieve lined with a clean cloth, then skim the fat from the surface. Taste it while it is still warm and make it brighter than you think it should be, with more vinegar, salt, or a pinch of sugar as needed. Cold dulls seasoning, so a timid warm broth becomes flat aspic.
- 5
Test the set
Spoon a little broth onto a cold plate and put it in the freezer for 5 minutes. If it sets softly but cleanly, the rind has done its work. If it stays loose, soak the gelatine in cold water, squeeze it dry if using sheets, and dissolve it into the warm strained broth. Nicht aus dem Glas, and not blind from the packet either; test first, then fix what the pot needs.
- 6
Build the mould
Slice the pork into thick, even pieces and pack it into a loaf tin, terrine, or shallow dish. Pour over enough warm broth to cover the meat by a finger's width, tapping the dish gently so liquid runs between the slices. Meat left sticking above the jelly dries out, and this is a cold dish, not a punishment.
- 7
Chill overnight
Cover the dish and chill it at least 8 hours, overnight if you've got sense. Das braucht seine Zeit. The aspic firms as it cools, and the vinegar settles into the pork instead of sitting sharp on the surface.
- 8
Serve cold
Dip the mould briefly in warm water, turn out the Sauerfleisch, and slice it with a sharp knife. Serve it cold with hot Bratkartoffeln, remoulade, and chopped gherkins if you want the bite. The plate should be clean, sharp, and a little glossy from the jelly. That's the north doing its work.
Chef Tips
- •Use pork shoulder or neck with some fat running through it. Lean loin turns dry before the jelly sets, and no amount of vinegar fixes a dry slice.
- •The broth must taste slightly too sharp and slightly too salty while warm. Cold meat and cold jelly mute everything, so season for the plate you will eat, not the spoon in your hand.
- •If you use powdered gelatine, bloom it in cold water first. Sprinkle it straight into hot broth and it clumps, then you have little rubber beads in a dish that should cut clean.
- •Serve with fried potatoes, not plain boiled potatoes. The crisp browned edges and hot fat are the answer to the cold sour jelly, and that contrast is the whole plate.
- •Keep it covered in the refrigerator and eat within 3 days. It is a make-ahead dish, not a forgotten one.
Advance Preparation
- •Make the Sauerfleisch the day before serving. It needs at least 8 hours to set properly, and the flavour is cleaner after a night in the cold.
- •Cook the potatoes for Bratkartoffeln the day before too. Cold cooked potatoes slice neatly and brown better in the pan because their surface dries out.
- •The strained broth can be made a day ahead with the pork held separately, but pour it over the sliced meat while the broth is warm so it fills the gaps before setting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 470g)
Calories
760 calories
Total Fat
51 g
Saturated Fat
15 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
31 g
Cholesterol
145 mg
Sodium
1250 mg
Total Carbohydrates
39 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
7 g
Protein
38 g
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