Schäufele, photo credit
Schäufele (also “Schäuferle”, “Schüfeli”, “Schäuferla” or “Schäufelchen”) is a traditional dish from the south of Germany. It is made from the pig’s shoulder meat, which gives the dish its name, “Schäufele”. The meat is cured and smoked before it is simmered in a broth of water, red wine, onions, bay laurel, cloves and other spices.
Ingredients:
700-800 g smoked pork shoulder
1 medium yellow onion
6 cloves
2 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves
6 juniper berries crushed
2 1/8 cups dry red wine
6 1/3 cups cold water
500 g mixed soup vegetables (carrots, leeks and celery)
1 tbsp white peppercorns
salt, pepper
Preparation:
- Rinse the meat under cold running water and pat dry with paper towels.
- Make criss-cross slashes on top of rind, spaced 1 cm apart, to make diamond-shaped patterns and season the pork generously by running salt as well as pepper.
- Chop the carrots, leeks, and celery into small pieces.
- Peel and mash the garlic cloves.
- Peel and chop the onion for the broth.
- In a big pot bring the dry red wine, water, white peppercorns, celery, leeks, carrots and onion to a boil.
- Add the pork, garlic, bay leaves, and crushed juniper berries to the pot.
- Turn the heat down to bring the mixture to a simmer. Keep covered and simmer for 90 minutes.
- Keep simmering for 30 to 60 minutes more till the meat is soft and tender (the meat begins to pull off from the bones). Remove the meat, place on a roasting grill and grill in the oven at ca. 210°C until the crust is crisp and slightly browned.
- Serve with potato dumplings and cabbage salad. Guten Appetit!
