Czech Roast Pork Recipes

CZECH ROAST PORK

Steps:

• In a bowl, form a paste using the vegetable oil, mustard, caraway seeds, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Rub over the pork roast, and let sit about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Arrange the onions in the bottom of a large roasting pan. Pour in the beer. Place the roast, fat side down, on top of the onions. Cover the pan with foil.
• Roast 1 hour in the preheated oven. Remove foil, turn roast, and score the fat. Continue roasting 2 1/2 hours, or to a minimum internal temperature of 145 degrees F (63 degrees C). Remove from heat, reserving pan juices, and let sit about 20 minutes before slicing thinly.
• In a saucepan, bring the reserved pan juices to a boil. Mix in the butter and cornstarch to thicken, reduce heat, and simmer 5 to 10 minutes. Serve with the sliced pork.

ROASTED PORK WITH SAUERKRAUT AND DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Preheat oven 350 F / 180 C. Take room temperature boneless pork shoulder roast and with paired knife, make 9 small holes on the top of the roast. Place 9 small garlic cloves inside. Season with salt and pepper. Let aside.
• In a dutch oven or any other cast iron pot reheat, vegetable oil on medium high and sear 1 large chopped onion for 1 min. Brown the roast on both sides, for about 1 minute each side.
• Remove the dutch oven from the heat. Add large bay leaf, caraway seeds and balls of allspice. Add 2 cups of water and place it in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, uncovered. After 30 minutes of roasting reduce the heat to 325 F/ 160 C and continue roasting for another 1 hour, covered.
• After one hour of roasting, uncover and roast for another and final 30 minutes. The roast must reach internal temperature 160 F/ 75 C. Use the juices to brush over the roast time to time.
• Let the roast sit in the dutch oven (covered) for 20 minutes, before you slice it.
• To prepare starter, place instant yeast in a small bowl with warm milk and sugar. Mix it well with spoon to get creamy texture. Cover the bowl with food foil and let it stand in warm place for 10 minutes. The yeast starter should double in size.
• In a bowl of stand mixer with hook attachment; add flour, egg, salt and yeast starter and mix on low speed. Add slowly warm milk, until the dough gets well combined. Knead the dough with hook attachment on medium low speed for 10 minutes. If you don't have a stand mixer, knead the dough with your hands for 10 minutes or until the dough is stretchy and soft.
• Shape the dough in ball and place it back to the bowl and cover with plastic food wrap. Let the dough rise for 40 minutes to 1 hour in warm (sunny) place. The dough should double in size.
• After first rise, punch the dough in the bowl. The dough will slightly deflate. Place the dough on lightly floured surface and cut it in 4 equal pieces. Shape 4 dumpling logs and place them on baking sheet, covered by plastic food wrap or parchment paper. Cover those 4 logs of dumplings with clean cotton kitchen towel and let rise for another 20 minutes in warm place.
• In the meanwhile, prepare large sauce pot with steam basket. Fill it with water at the steam basket level. Brush the steam basket with butter or oil preventing sticking. Bring the water to a boil. Once the dumpling logs has risen for another 20 minutes, place 2 logs of dumplings in large sauce pot with steam basket. Cover the sauce pot with lid and lower the heat on medium-low. Steam the dumpling logs for 20-25 minutes.
• Remove the dumpling logs out of the steaming basket and poke them with toot pick or fork. Cut the dumplings with sawing thread or unscented dental floss. Serve!
• In a large skillet with lid, reheat vegetable oil and sear chopped medium onion for about 5 minutes, or until slightly brown.
• Add sauerkraut and water. Season with salt and pepper.
• Cook covered, for 15 -20 minutes or until the water will slightly evaporate.
• Add sugar and flour and cook for another 1 minute on medium high heat, uncovered. Serve the pork with dumplings, sauerkraut and drizzle with juices from the roasted pork.

CZECH ROAST PORK LOIN (VEPROVA PECENE) RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Heat the oven to 400 F.
• Trim excess fat from the pork. Save the fat, if desired, to be rendered later and used for frying. Rub salt and pepper, to taste, into the meat. Heat the 3 tablespoons lard or vegetable oil in a large skillet.
• When the lard or oil is hot, carefully place the meat in the skillet and brown on all sides.
• Place the browned meat in a roasting pan large enough to accommodate it, but with the not too much extra room (otherwise the juices will evaporate too quickly).
• On the meat, sprinkle 1 tablespoon dried marjoram, 2 tablespoons caraway seeds, 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, and 1 cup water. Then lay the onion slices on top of the meat.
• Place in the oven and roast for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, basting with pan juices every 15 to 20 minutes, and adding water as necessary. If the meat is browning too fast, cover loosely with aluminum foil.
• When the meat is done, remove it to a serving platter. Skim any fat from the surfaces of the pan juices and add salt and pepper to taste.
• Serve slices of the pork with sliced dumplings covered with pan juices. Don't forget the side of cabbage-red is preferred! Leftover meat slices make terrific sandwiches. Source: I adapted this recipe from one in "The Best of Czech Cooking" by Peter Trnka (Hippocrene Books Inc., 2009).