Palatinate Schweinepfeffer (Pork in Dark Blood-Thickened Sauce)

Description

Pieces of pork neck simmered until tender with onion, bay leaf, celeriac, cloves and peppercorns, then served in a dark roux sauce sharpened with vinegar and enriched with pig's blood and egg yolk. An old dish of the Palatinate, eaten with sauerkraut and farmhouse bread.

1. 1

   Cut the pork neck into 8 portion-sized pieces, put them in a pot, cover with boiling water and let it boil vigorously for 10 minutes. Pour off the water.

   ⏱️ approx. 10 min

   💡 Tip: This is how the Palatinate cookbook of 1858 does it: the first water carries away the scum, so the sauce stays cleaner.

2. 2

   Just cover the meat with fresh hot water. Halve two onions, roughly dice the celeriac and add them with the bay leaf, cloves, peppercorns and salt. Cover and simmer over low heat for about 1½ hours until the meat is tender. Skim off the fat that rises to the top from time to time.

   ⏱️ approx. 90 min

   💡 Tip: Skimming is expressly required by the old recipe – pork neck is marbled, otherwise the sauce becomes too fatty.

3. 3

   Lift out the meat and keep it warm, covered. Strain the broth through a sieve and measure 750 ml of it.

   ⏱️ approx. 5 min
4. 4

   For the roux, melt the butter in a pan, add the flour and toast it, stirring constantly, until it is a deep brown. Finely dice the third onion and fry it along with the roux without letting anything burn.

   ⏱️ approx. 10 min

   💡 Tip: The dark colour of the sauce comes from the toasted roux – the browner the flour, the more robust the "Pfeffer".

5. 5

   Gradually stir the hot broth into the roux, add the vinegar and let the sauce simmer gently for 10 minutes. Then press it through a fine sieve over the meat and let everything steep for a few more minutes.

   ⏱️ approx. 15 min
6. 6

   Take the pot off the heat. Whisk the pig's blood with the egg yolk, fold it into the sauce and swirl the pot until everything is hot again – the sauce must not boil any more. Season with salt and ground pepper.

   ⏱️ approx. 5 min

   💡 Tip: If the sauce boils after being thickened, the blood and yolk curdle and it turns grainy. Without blood the Pfeffer is already finished after step 5 – the old cookbook calls the blood explicitly a refinement for special occasions.

7. 7

   Serve the Schweinepfeffer with hot sauerkraut and slices of farmhouse bread, spooning the sauce generously over the meat.

   💡 Tip: Dumplings and red cabbage are also classic; in the Palatinate Schweinepfeffer is moreover eaten as a savoury partner to Dampfnudeln.