Bacon-Wrapped Pork Fillet with Mushroom Sauce and Spätzle

Preparation

1. Put a flat platter or large plates in the oven and preheat it to 80 °C for about 30 minutes. Take the fillet out of the fridge an hour before cooking, trim it if necessary, and season lightly with salt and pepper.
2. Lay the bacon slices slightly overlapping, as long as the fillet, cover the two ends of the fillet with one or two slices each, place the fillet on the bacon and roll it up tightly. Secure with kitchen string or roulade pins.
3. Heat the oil in a casserole and brown the fillet for about 6 minutes on all sides until crisp, including the ends, holding it upright with kitchen paper or tongs. Then place it on the warmed platter, insert a meat thermometer and cook in the 80 °C oven for about 2 hours, until the core reaches 60 °C and is pink. It is quicker at 160 °C, when about 30 minutes is enough; check the core temperature there too.
4. Skim the fat from the pan residue in the casserole, loosen it with a little wine or stock and set aside.
5. Half an hour before the end of cooking, chop the onions and garlic and halve or quarter the mushrooms depending on size.
6. Melt the butter in a large frying pan, fry the smoked bacon, soften the onions and garlic, add the mushrooms and tomato purée, season with salt and pepper and fry until almost no liquid remains. Meanwhile heat the cream, crème fraîche, stock and white wine with the loosened pan residue in the casserole and put the spätzle water on.
7. Add the mushrooms to the casserole and simmer gently for about 5 minutes, stirring in chopped herbs if you like. Season with Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper and thicken with flour or cornflour if needed.
8. Cook the spätzle with the oil in the salted water until al dente, drain and toss in melted butter.
9. Slice the fillet with a sharp knife so the bacon stays intact, and serve with the mushroom sauce and spätzle on warmed plates.

Drink with it

• Red wine · excellent match

  Spätburgunder (Pinot Noir), dry, lightly chilled

  Cherry fruit and forest-floor notes meet the fried mushrooms, the fine tannin does not overwhelm the delicate fillet, and the acidity keeps the cream sauce light.

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• White wine · excellent match

  Grauburgunder (Pinot Gris) or Weißburgunder (Pinot Blanc) from Baden, dry

  The wine's roundness carries the cream and crème fraîche, and its acidity cuts through the bacon fat; white wine is also in the sauce.

• Dark beer · good match

  Märzen or Munich Dunkel

  Roasted malt picks up the bacon crust and pan residue, and the carbonation takes the heaviness off the cream sauce.

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