Pork Knuckle in Beer

This is my pork knuckle debut. Once upon a time, I wouldn’t even have looked at one. Then, on the way back from the seaside one day — I was a high-school kid, probably around then — Dad ordered pork knuckle at a restaurant apparently famous at the time for making outstanding ones. So I tried it.

I’m not someone who pounces on pork knuckle in every Bavarian, German or similar restaurant. I tend to prefer ribs or schnitzel. But every so often, the moment comes when you simply have to eat a pork knuckle. Today is that day. Perhaps I’m bored with the quite different, supposedly lighter Mediterranean cooking. Or perhaps it’s simply the approaching autumn.

I mentioned Dad at the beginning, and how he introduced me to this dish that takes quite a while to prepare, so I must also mention two food jokes he laughs at and sometimes tells. The first is about pierogi and goes something like this. A customer queues at a Polish milk bar and orders: “One portion of ruskie pierogi, please.” The woman at the till calls to the kitchen: “Ruskie, once!” But the customer reconsiders: “Maybe not ruskie after all.” The cashier calls to the kitchen: “Hold the Ruskies! The customer is wavering.”

As you can see, that one has nothing to do with pork knuckle, but the next one does. Building the suspense properly, I suppose? Here comes the second one. It’s not entirely politically correct, just warning you.

Dad is sitting in a restaurant and sees a waitress carrying two pork knuckles to a customer. She puts them in front of him and is about to leave when he goes bright red and asks indignantly: “What have you brought me?” Surprised, she replies: “Well, pork knuckle, as you ordered.” Even more irritated, he raises his voice: “Exactly, a pork knuckle. One large pork knuckle.” The waitress, surprised but perfectly calm, says: “Yes, but we haven’t got any large ones, so you’ve been given two small ones.” At this point, the man loses his temper and says:

Why didn’t you tell me when I ordered? You see, pork knuckles are like women: some men like them small, others like them big. And I happen to like them big. That’s why I didn’t order two small ones, but one big one. Please take this away.

He stood up and left. He would have stayed at my place, because mine seems exceptionally respectable to me, and the taste! Don’t let a pork knuckle’s appearance put you off, either. Yes, it’s hideous. That fatty skin, those protruding stumps. Before I tried it, that was exactly what completely put me off. But you should know that, done well — as you’ll see in the recipe, the process is long so the meat becomes as soft as goose down 😉 — it tastes wonderful. True, a lot of fat and bone remains on the plate, but that’s what makes the meat so exceptionally tender. Highly recommended.

At a glance:

Preparation time: 2.5 hours (actually, cooking time)

Marinating time: 2 hours

Roasting time: 40 minutes

Roasting temperature: 200 degrees Celsius

Serves: one bloke

How many calories: that question was out of line

Ingredients for Bavarian-style pork knuckle:

• 1 large pork knuckle (mine weighed 650 grams; that’s fairly big, isn’t it?)
• 4 bay leaves
• 10 allspice berries
• 16 mixed peppercorns
• a stock cube
• 2 carrots
• 1 red onion
• a bunch of parsley
• salt
• 4 shallots
• 1 bottle of dark beer (0.5 l; I used Koziel)
• 2 teaspoons of marjoram
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of horseradish
• 1 teaspoon of ground hot paprika
• 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds

How to make a fantastic pork knuckle:

I washed the pork knuckle thoroughly and put it in a large saucepan. I covered it with water, added the bay leaves, allspice, 8 whole mixed peppercorns, the stock cube, peeled onion and carrot, and cooked it for 1.5 hours. Then I added the washed fresh parsley and cooked for another 45–50 minutes or so.

I transferred the cooked knuckle to a plate and scored the skin in a criss-cross pattern.

I made the marinade. Into a deep bowl went the 5 finely chopped garlic cloves, marjoram, caraway, 8 mixed peppercorns, ground hot paprika and 1 teaspoon of horseradish. I poured over the whole bottle of dark beer and mixed thoroughly.

I placed the knuckle in the bowl of marinade, so that it was practically completely covered, and set it aside for 2 hours.

After its 2-hour bath in the marinade, the knuckle was ready to roast. I preheated the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and put the knuckle in an ovenproof dish, surrounded by sliced shallots and moistened with the marinade, as shown in the photo. I roasted it for 40 minutes. The pork knuckle in beer is then ready. It tastes perfect with dark bread and horseradish. Cabbage is an option too, of course 🙂 Enjoy!