Nordhessisches Weckewerk

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy saucepan or wide Dutch oven
• •Meat grinder or food processor
• •Shallow dish for chilling
• •Heavy frying pan or cast-iron skillet

Instructions

1. 1

   Soften the rolls

   Put the torn stale rolls in a bowl and pour over 500ml of the warm pork stock. Let them stand for 20 minutes, pressing them down once or twice, because dry bread needs time to swell through the middle. If the centre stays hard, it never binds the pork properly in the pan.

2. 2

   Grind the pork

   Chop or grind the cooked pork and tender rind to a coarse paste, not a smooth puree. The rind is not rubbish; it brings gelatin, and that gelatin is what lets the mixture set when cold and fry with a crisp edge later. Weggeworfen wird nichts.

   No grinder, no drama. Pulse the meat and rind in a food processor in short bursts, stopping while you can still see small pieces. Smooth paste fries heavy and dull.
3. 3

   Sweat the onions

   Melt 2 tablespoons lard in a heavy pan and cook the onions over medium heat until soft and pale gold, about 8 minutes. Do not brown them hard; browned onion turns bitter in the long simmer, and Weckewerk wants sweetness under the pepper and marjoram.

4. 4

   Cook the mixture

   Add the pork, rind, soaked rolls, marjoram, pepper, allspice, caraway, salt, mustard, and the remaining stock to the onions. Cook gently, stirring often, for 35 to 45 minutes, until the mass thickens and the spoon leaves a clear track across the bottom of the pan. Runter mit der Temperatur: if it catches, the bread scorches before the stock has worked into it.

5. 5

   Chill until firm

   Taste while it is hot, then correct the salt and pepper before it sets. Spread the mixture in a shallow dish, cover it, and chill for at least 2 hours, or overnight if you have the time. Cold Weckewerk slices cleanly; warm Weckewerk smears and steams in the pan instead of crisping.

6. 6

   Fry and serve

   Cut the chilled mixture into thick slabs or scoop it into rough patties. Fry in a little lard over medium-high heat until the first side is deeply browned and crisp before you turn it, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Leave it alone while it crusts, because moving it too early tears the bread-bound surface. Serve with boiled potatoes and sour cucumbers or sauerkraut. Schön ist, was schmeckt.

Chef Tips

• •Use real pork stock from cooked bones, rind, or shoulder if you can. Stock cubes make salt water with manners; they don't give you the gelatin that sets the Weckewerk.
• •The rolls must be stale, not fresh. Fresh bread turns gluey, while stale bread drinks stock and keeps the mixture spoonable before it sets.
• •A little liver is used by some North Hessian butchers, but keep it modest if you add it. Too much liver takes over the pot and then you're cooking a different dish.
• •Serve the sour thing beside it. Pickled cucumber, sauerkraut, or beetroot cuts the fat, which is why the old table put them there in the first place.

Advance Preparation

• •Cook the pork and rind a day ahead if you are starting from raw trim; chill the meat in its stock so the fat rises and can be lifted off for frying.
• •The finished mixture keeps covered in the refrigerator for 3 days. Fry only what you need, because the crisp edge is made in the pan and dies under a lid.
• •Freeze the chilled mixture in slabs for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before frying so the centre warms through before the crust gets too dark.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 430g)