Will is part Czech; specifically, his family is from Bohemia. His mother taught me this fabulous recipe. All you do is get a pork loin, preferably bone in, and coat it with pressed garlic, caraway seeds, and seasoned salt. I then stuck it in a 350 degree oven, and let it brown for forty minutes to create a crust. Once you get the crust, pour some water into the roasting pan and cook for another two hours and twenty minutes.
The potato dumplings are the hardest part of the entire thing because everything is based on getting the potatoes good and dry after boiling them. You have to peel and boil them until they are cooked through, then drain them, then grate them. Finally you add a cup of flour, two eggs, one eighth of a teaspoon of sage and a teaspoon of salt. Blend this all together well, form into a log, and cut into pieces that you then form into balls. Then you stick them in boiling salted water for ten minutes or until they float to the surface.
The sauerkraut is a combination of his family recipes and what I like to use. I put in a pinch of sugar, caraway seeds, and gin. I simmer that until heated through.
The gravy is the easiest to make, but the easiest to screw up as well. All you do is take the water that by now is flavored with drippings from the roast in the bottom of the roasting pan and add flour. Once it's nice and thick, add water and, if necessary, salt and caraway seeds. Once it's thick and bubbly, it's ready.
Will and I found the roast to be super juicy; I thought it didn't need gravy. I had some dumplings that his mom, who uses potato flakes instead of whole potatoes, that I reheated to use. Will mentioned that his mom's were prettier, but needed more gravy. He found mine to have a bit too much sage, but he liked the flavor better. The gravy was too thick, but Will did like the flavor of it, so that was good. The sauerkraut was fantastic.
This sort of thing is my favorite meal; perfect except for one thing that needs a touch of work.
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