Chef Klaus
Bayerische Martinsgans
The Bavarian St. Martin goose is won in the first slow hour: render the fat gently, spoon it off, then let the skin go crisp and mahogany at the end.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Spanferkelbraten
Created by
The Bavarian feast roast lives or dies by its skin: slow heat to render, dry salt to season, then a hard finish until the crackling snaps clean under the knife.
Main Dishes
German
Celebration
Special Occasion
35 min
Active Time
3 hr 15 min cook•3 hr 50 min total
Yield6 servings
Spanferkelbraten is feast food from the southern table, strongest in Bavaria and Franconia, the sort of roast that lands at a Wirtshaus table with Kraut and a Knödel, a dumpling, to catch the sauce. Whole suckling pig belongs to weddings, Kirchweih, and proper celebrations; at home I roast a skin-on shoulder or leg from a young pig, because it fits in an oven and still gives you the thing that matters: tender meat under crisp skin.
Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. The north has its smoked pork, cabbage, and fish; the south argues over beer, caraway, garlic, and whether the sauce should stay dark and plain or take a little malt sweetness. I keep it Bavarian: onion, garlic, caraway, a little dark beer, bones in the pan, no jarred Bratensoße. Nicht aus dem Glas.
The single technique is this: start low, finish hard, and keep the skin dry between brushings. The slow heat renders the thin fat under the rind without tightening the meat, then the final blast drives off moisture from the skin and makes it crisp. Brush with beer too early and too often and you've made wet leather. Brush lightly, let it dry, then give it heat. Das braucht seine Zeit.
Weggeworfen wird nichts. The bones, onion, pan drippings, and browned bits make the sauce, not a packet. Watch the skin, not the clock, at the end; when it blisters and sounds hollow under the knife, you're there. Schön ist, was schmeckt.
Spanferkel, suckling pig, was historically a feast animal across German-speaking regions because it required a young pig slaughtered before it had reached full market weight, making it too valuable for ordinary weekday cooking. In Bavaria and Franconia it became tied to Wirtshaus roasts, Kirchweih fairs, weddings, and beer-cellar cooking, where dark beer and caraway entered the roasting pan as local habits rather than national rules. Regional practice still splits clearly: southern cooks prize the beer-brushed crackling and pork sauce, while northern pork traditions lean more often on curing, smoking, and cabbage-pot cooking.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
skin-on, bone-in suckling pig shoulder or leg
Quantity
2.5 to 3kg
fine salt
Quantity
2 tablespoons, plus more to taste
caraway seeds
Quantity
1 tablespoon
lightly crushed
black pepper
Quantity
1 teaspoon
freshly ground
garlic cloves
Quantity
4
crushed
neutral oil or lard
Quantity
2 tablespoons
onions
Quantity
3 large
thickly sliced
carrots
Quantity
2
chopped
leek
Quantity
1 small
sliced and well rinsed
pork bones or rib trimmings
Quantity
500g
light pork stock or water
Quantity
500ml
dark Bavarian lager or Märzen
Quantity
250ml
mild mustard
Quantity
1 tablespoon
honey or beet syrup (optional)
Quantity
1 teaspoon
cold butter (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for finishing the sauce
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| skin-on, bone-in suckling pig shoulder or leg | 2.5 to 3kg |
| fine salt | 2 tablespoons, plus more to taste |
| caraway seedslightly crushed | 1 tablespoon |
| black pepperfreshly ground | 1 teaspoon |
| garlic clovescrushed | 4 |
| neutral oil or lard | 2 tablespoons |
| onionsthickly sliced | 3 large |
| carrotschopped | 2 |
| leeksliced and well rinsed | 1 small |
| pork bones or rib trimmings | 500g |
| light pork stock or water | 500ml |
| dark Bavarian lager or Märzen | 250ml |
| mild mustard | 1 tablespoon |
| honey or beet syrup (optional) | 1 teaspoon |
| cold butter (optional)for finishing the sauce | 1 tablespoon |
Equipment Needed
- •Large roasting pan with rack or vegetable bed
- •Sharp scoring knife or clean utility blade
- •Pastry brush
- •Fine sieve
- •Instant-read thermometer
Instructions
- 1
Dry the skin
Pat the pork dry all over, then leave it uncovered in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, overnight if you have it. Dry skin crackles because the oven can drive off the last surface moisture quickly; wet skin spends its best heat boiling itself and turns tough.
- 2
Score and season
Score the rind in narrow diamonds or strips, cutting through the skin and fat but not deep into the meat. Rub salt into the cuts, then season the meat side with crushed caraway, pepper, garlic, and oil or lard. Keep most of the garlic off the skin, because garlic burns before the rind has finished its work.
Use a very sharp knife or ask the butcher to score the rind. Ragged cuts tear as the skin tightens, and clean cuts give fat somewhere to render out. - 3
Build the pan
Heat the oven to 150C. Put the onions, carrots, leek, and pork bones in a roasting pan and set the pork on top, skin side up. Pour the stock or water around, not over, the roast. The vegetables lift the meat away from the liquid, and the bones give the sauce body you don't get from a jar.
- 4
Roast low
Roast for about 2 hours, basting only the meat and pan vegetables with the juices, never soaking the skin. Runter mit der Temperatur. Low heat gives the fat time to soften and run before the meat tightens, so the roast stays juicy and the rind is ready for the hard finish.
- 5
Brush with beer
Mix the beer with the mustard and honey or beet syrup if using. Brush the skin lightly, then let it roast 15 minutes before brushing again. A thin film dries and leaves malt and salt behind; a heavy wash sits on the rind and stops it crisping. Repeat two or three times.
- 6
Finish the crackling
Raise the oven to 230C and roast 20 to 30 minutes more, watching closely, until the skin blisters, turns deep gold, and sounds hollow when tapped with the back of a knife. Turn the pan if one side colours faster. The last heat is for the skin, not for cooking the meat to death.
- 7
Rest the roast
Lift the pork to a board and rest it 20 minutes, uncovered. Covering traps moisture against the crackling and softens the thing you just worked for. Resting also lets the juices settle back into the meat, so the slices stay clean instead of bleeding across the board.
- 8
Make the sauce
Strain the roasting pan into a pot, pressing the onions and bones hard because they paid their rent in the oven. Skim the fat, boil the liquid until it tastes deep and porky, then season with salt and pepper. Whisk in cold butter off the heat if you want a rounder finish. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss.
- 9
Carve and serve
Cut the crackling along the scored lines first, then slice the meat beneath it. Serve with Sauerkraut or warm cabbage salad and Kartoffelknödel, potato dumplings, with the sauce poured beside the crackling, not over it. Sauce on the skin is how good work goes soft.
Chef Tips
- •Ask for skin-on suckling pig shoulder or leg. If your butcher can't get it, use a young skin-on pork shoulder; the flavour is stronger and the roast will need a little longer, but the method still holds.
- •Salt the skin early and leave it uncovered. Salt pulls moisture to the surface first, then the refrigerator dries it away; that dry rind is the beginning of crackling.
- •Use beer as a brush, not a bath. The Bavarian taste comes from malt and roast pork together, but too much liquid on the skin keeps it rubbery.
- •Keep the sauce plain and clean. Bones, onion, pan drippings, stock, beer, salt. Nicht aus dem Glas.
- •Serve with Sauerkraut if you want sharpness, or Blaukraut, red cabbage, if you want colour and sweetness on the plate. The pork can carry either.
Advance Preparation
- •Score and salt the pork the night before, then refrigerate it uncovered so the skin dries properly.
- •The vegetables and bones can be cut and ready in the roasting pan a few hours ahead.
- •Leftover meat keeps 3 days in the refrigerator. Reheat the meat gently in a little sauce, but warm crackling separately in a hot oven so it does not soften.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 360g)
Calories
965 calories
Total Fat
69 g
Saturated Fat
24 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
45 g
Cholesterol
250 mg
Sodium
2500 mg
Total Carbohydrates
15 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
70 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Bavarian Sunday Roasts & Wirtshaus Mains
Browse the full collection
Chef Klaus
Bayerische Rinderrouladen mit Biersoße
Bavarian beef rolls with mustard, bacon, onion, and pickle, braised low in dark beer until the meat yields and the sauce tastes made, not bought.
Chef Klaus
Bayerischer Entenbraten
A Bavarian Advent and Wirtshaus roast lives by dry skin, low heat, and patience: render the duck fat slowly, then finish hot for skin that cracks under the knife.
Chef Klaus
Bayerischer Krustenbraten
A Bavarian Sunday pork roast lives or dies by its Schwarte, the crackling skin: slow heat renders the fat, then cold salt water tightens the hot rind into crisp bubbles.