Steirisches Wurzelfleisch – pork with roots and horseradish

Check that the shoulder is fresh and raw, without bones or skin. Remove only loose membranes and weigh out 1 kg meat; do not cut away the intramuscular fat. Halve the onion. Cut 100 g each of the carrots, parsley root and celeriac into large pieces for the broth. Cut the remaining 200 g carrots, 100 g parsley root and 200 g celeriac into thin sticks approximately 3 mm thick and set aside for cooking later. Lightly crush the juniper berries. Put them with the bay leaves and peppercorns in a spice infuser or tie them in kitchen cheesecloth.

In a pot of approximately 4 l capacity that holds the meat fairly snugly, bring 2 l water to a boil with the vinegar and 8 g salt. Add the onion, large vegetable pieces intended for the broth and the infuser or spice bundle. Lower the shoulder into the hot liquid. The meat should be covered by the broth; if necessary, add some of the reserved 300 ml water, heating it first. Use this same reserve later only if too much broth evaporates.

Once the liquid returns to a gentle simmer, reduce the heat and spoon off any foam that appears; discard it. Cook the meat with the lid ajar over very low heat for approximately 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours 15 minutes, counting from when the broth is hot again. The liquid should just quiver, occasionally releasing small bubbles. If needed, top it up from the same reserve of up to 300 ml hot water. The shoulder is ready when a fork goes into the meat easily but the piece can still be cut into slices; if it is still firm, cook it longer.

Near the end of cooking the meat, once it begins to soften, cut the peeled potatoes into similar-sized pieces. In a separate pot, cover them with 1.5 l water and add 4 g salt. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and cook for 18–25 minutes, until tender. Drain, discarding the water, and keep covered until serving.

Lift the tender shoulder onto a board or platter and cover it so it does not dry out. Remove the infuser or cheesecloth and discard the spent spices. Strain the broth through a sieve into another pot; discard the cooked onion and large vegetable pieces from the broth. Spoon off the visible excess fat from the surface. Measure 800 ml strained broth into a small pot; save the rest for another dish. Add the reserved thin carrot, parsley root and celeriac sticks to the measured 800 ml. Simmer gently for 6–8 minutes, until tender but still holding their shape.

Cut the shoulder across the grain into slices approximately 1 cm thick. Pour the board juices into the pot with the final vegetables and broth. If the meat has cooled, briefly put the slices in this hot broth. Taste the broth and, if needed, add only as much of the remaining 2 g salt as necessary. Finely grate the horseradish just before serving and chop the parsley leaves.

Divide all the meat, potatoes and final vegetables among 4 deep plates. Distribute all the broth from the small pot in which the thin vegetable sticks cooked, together with the meat juices. Add the freshly grated horseradish and parsley, dividing them evenly among the servings. Serve immediately while hot.