Crispy Roast Meat - The Austrian Way

Oven-roasting has never been difficult in my household... in fact it is easy peasy! The austrians have a very traditional but delicious way to make a meat become so crispy with just little effort. 

I learned it from hubby´s grandma. She was a super cook, she baked cakes and cookies so delish even without a book or recipe on hand... it was all in her head!!! She knew every detail of how many cups of flour are needed or measurements of the spices to be used. I guess, I was lucky to have known some of her cooking secrets and this is one of those.  

Whatever meat you may want to roast the steps are always the same. Chicken, duck or goose are also among our favorites.. One exception though... the pork belly is treated differently only if the skin is included for a crispy roast. 

Here, just to show you a good example... I chose a pork belly with skin on the left and the one on the right was a rolled turkey in a net.  The very first thing that I do with the pork belly is to wash thoroughly then season with salt on all sides,  let stand for about 1/2 hour and boil  in a casserole for about 15 minutes with skin side on the bottom of the casserole until the skin becomes soft.

When boiling is over , the skin is cut crosswise and lengthwise making slits for the seasoning. I salt all the sides, add pepper, ground garlic and caraway seeds... I also add a tablespoon ( oprional) of soy sauce and sprinkle this on the surface , by using hand, the sauce is distributed evenly covering all the skin to give it brown color.

The rolled turkey can be bought at the supermarket already covered in net.. I prefer the one that is not spiced.
Again,  I used 1 tbsp.of soy sauce and the same seasoning as with the pork except for the caraway seeds. 

Roast bath...  Note: Preheat the oven a 200°C/ 392°F

I prepare this by using one of the following methods:..

1.  1 liter of beef broth/stock that you have made in advance. Here is a method from Simply Recipes on how to make  one proper stock... I make mine by boiling gently beef bones or veal bones for a long time with added salt and pepper and use this as roast bath., or...

2.  you can combine 1 liter of water, 1/2 tbsp salt, 1 tsp. ground pepper, 1 tsp. garlic powder and 2 tbsp soy sauce... or 

3. 1 knorr vegetable/ or beef broth dissolve in 1 liter of water ( the simplest method). 

Oven- Roasting: 

1. Place the seasoned meat on the oven tray, the pork belly skin facing up,  add the roast bath pouring it on the sides of the tray. 

2. Roast for about 1.5 hours pouring the liquid on the meat every 15 minutes . Add water to the roast bath from time to time so that liquid would not evaporate completely. The liquid bath will be used later as the sauce for this dish. 

 3.Turn meat sides every half hour and continue pouring liquid on the meat every 15 minutes so it doesn´t get dry.  After 1.5 hours of roasting time, the meat should be tender by then and the skin of the pork belly has all popped and burst and become crispy. Remove the meat from the tray as well as transfer the liquid to a sauce pan... Meanwhile, place the meat once more in the tray and roast for another 5 minutes to make it more crispy.

4. For the sauce, heat the pan under medium heat, add the liquid, adjust the quantity if necessary as well as  the seasoning and add 1 tbsp conflour dissolved in water mixing it all the time until well blended, remove from pan and serve the sauce in a separate bowl. 

 Cut the meat and arrange on a platter with the sauce . Goes well with rice or boiled potatoes.

Happy Cooking!