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German Spiessbraten
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Mar 31, 2025
Originally from the Palatine region in western Germany, Spiessbraten is one of the world’s truly great grilled pork dishes. The ingredients are simple—thick, juicy pork steaks (cut from the neck), onion, and sometimes garlic. The seasonings are even simpler—salt and pepper, and maybe nutmeg. Then the steaks are smokily charred over a raging beech fire.
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Spießbraten is the grand specialty of Ider Oberstein in western Germany
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but it just might be the best spit-roasted pork on planet barbecue
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The technique is as cool as all get-out, and the smoke flavor is out of this world
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In Germany, you would use a cut called Schweinkam, pork neck. The closest equivalent in North America is a boneless pork loin
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And what you do is butterfly the pork loin. That is, you cut it almost in half through one side
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Do not cut all the way through. Then open up the roast like a book
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Season the inside of the pork with coarse salt, kosher or sea salt
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and freshly ground black pepper. spread the pork with thinly sliced garlic cloves
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and thinly sliced onion then fold the top piece of pork back over the bottom
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then tie the pork roast off with a simple surgeon's lock knot
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loop through once then twice pull the string tight then tie it off
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now trim the ends off of each knot Spie Schwenkblattens Spinefackel Steckelfish
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Germany has some of the most remarkable barbecue in Western Europe, and I'll bet you haven't heard of it
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Last of all, you want to season the outside of the roast with salt and freshly ground black pepper
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The next step is to skewer the Spießbraten. And we do this in a kind of unusual manner
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Normally you would think you would skewer the roast this way. But in fact, to make authentic German Spießbraten
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you skewer it from side to side. So we'll come through. Insert the prongs
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The other set of prongs will go on right here. and we'll just have to adjust this so that the roast is centered on the spit in the rotisserie
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Next, a word about fuel. The traditional fuel for spit roasting spiessbraten is beechwood logs
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You can also use charcoal, tossing wood chunks on the coals. The setup for spit roasting on a
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charcoal or wood grill is very similar to indirect grilling. The coals in side baskets and a drip pan
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in the center. And what you wanna do is place the spit with the roast through the hole in the rotisserie collar into the motor then turn on the motor Two points I want to make If you working with charcoal and wood chunks you can add
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the chunks now to generate a smoke flavor. Then cover the grill exactly as you would
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for indirect grilling. If, however, you're burning beech wood chunks or beech wood logs
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Leave the grill uncovered. If you use pure wood, the roast would be unbearably smoky if you covered the grill
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Cooking time, about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes. You want to cook the pork well done to 195 degrees
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The traditional accompaniment for Spießbladen is radish salad. It starts with mayonnaise
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vegetable oil, distilled white vinegar, coarse salt and black pepper
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Please note this is different salt and pepper than the salt and pepper I used for the meat
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Whisk the ingredients together until dissolved. Then add the radish
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And stir to mix. That's all there is to it. It's been an hour and a half
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and the Spie looks ready But let check it with an instant read meat thermometer inserted into the center of the meat but not touching the metal spit 190 degrees
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We've got it. So transfer the spit and the meat to a cutting board
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and loosen the prongs. Last of all, before serving, remember to cut and remove the strings
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So let's see how we did. The Spießbraten with radish salad
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Let's take a taste. Mmm, that's nice
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The smoke, the pork, the onion flavor, it's just like it tastes in Germany
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So there you have it. Spießplatten Eder Oberstein style. It's pork spit-roasted to a turn
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