Sunday Lunch: Oven braised pork

Today it was the 5th time that I prepared braised pork in the oven. To me, this is a dish that only moms and grandmoms can prepare the way it should be and no matter how many times you try it yourself, it is never going to taste like hers. Anyway, the first two times I screwed the sauce completly up. That made me almost want to give the whole thing up, but instead I read dozens of recipes. After some weeks I decided to give it another go, but then the sauce was too thick and had a much too intense tomato touch. Finally, today I made it! The sauce had the right consistence, taste and the meat has just melted in our mouth.


Ingredients:
1000-1250 g pork (e.g. haunch)
2 tablespoon mustard
1-2 tablespoon flour
2 tablespoon oil or butter oil
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 leek
2 carrots
3 parsley roots
3 celery stalks
1 teaspoon tomato puree
300 ml beer
600 ml beef stock
1 bay leaf
2-3 cloves
1-2 twigs thyme
1-2 twigs rosemary
2-3 sage leaves
100 ml red wine
salt, pepper


Peel and dice vegetables, stick cloves in the bay leaf. Smear mustard on the meat, salt and pepper and sprinkle with some flour. Heat butter oil and fry meat from both sides, set aside. Add vegetables, cover and stew for a minute or two, add tomato puree. Place meat among the herbs on the vegetables, pour beer and stock over it and braise in the oven for 2 hours on 180°C. Set meat aside and mash vegetables, add a tablespoon flour, red wine and cook it for 5-6 minutes, sieve and cook it for another 15 minutes or until it reached the desired consistence. Season with salt and pepper. If the liquid is not enough, or you wish to prepare a bigger portion of the sauce add some more beef stock before reducing. If you like the meat to be even more tender or so to say almost "overcooked", slice it and leave it in the simmering sauce for 15-20 minutes.