Pork Knuckle | German Style Recipe

I'm sure we all have our favorite dishes that we keep on ordering in a restaurant. Personally, I love beer so you can find me in a beer pub from time to time and whenever I visit one, I simply have to order a crispy pork knuckle. The crispy skin, the fall-apart tender meat and a cold beer along with it... it's just amazing :)

But what if the pubs close and you crave your favorite delicacy? Well, let's just prepare it at home, right?

Where does this dish come from?

As far as I know, this is originally a German dish, but it is very popular in multiple European countries... Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria... pubs and restaurants in all these countries carry the pork knuckle on a regular basis.

The recipe I'm going to show you is kind of a hybrid, it's not the super authentic German pork knuckle, but most of the ingredients are the same. On top of that, I'm using beer in the recipe, which is very German. So let's call it a "German style" pork knuckle :)

I'm using a shortcut in this recipe, in order to reduce the overall cooking time. The trick is to pre-cook the knuckle prior to baking it. This is an optional step, but I find it to produce more consistent results and as mentioned, it saves some time.

Now let's do it!

This pork knuckle recipe is on the more simple side, including the sides that I'm going to serve it with.

Here is what we need :

1 large rear leg pork knuckle (approx. 1.5kg/3lbs)

3 large onions

6-8 garlic cloves

4-5 bay leaves

1 teaspoon caraway seeds

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

5 allspice corns

2 tablespoons olive oil

salt

ground black pepper

NOTE: 1 large rear leg knuckle is enough for 2 very hungry eaters.

As with all my Instructables, let me start by embeding a video that shows the whole preparation and cooking process. For detailed info and more photos, scroll below.

This step is simple. Just bring the water to a boil, add the knuckle and drop in the seasonings.

I'm using one large onion cut in half, 4-5 bay leaves, 1 teaspoon of black peppercorns, 1 teaspoon of caraways seeds, 2 tablespoons of salt and 5 allspice corns.

The knuckle will take 60-90 minutes to become tender, depending on the size. And since we seasoned the water, the knuckle will start absorbing the flavors while cooking.

Once the pork knuckle is cooked, transfer it to a deep baking dish.

Using a sharp knife, make cuts into the skin now. This way, the skin will bake better and become more crispy. It will also allow us to marinate the meat better and deeper.

For the marinade, I'm using just 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of black pepper, 1-2 cloves crushed garlic and a teaspoon of salt. Mix it all together and brush the pork knuckle with this marinade on all sides.

Let's add some more goodies into the baking dish.

Two roughly cut onions and 3 garlic cloves go in. Add a pint of dark beer and 2 or 3 ladles of the broth we made while cooking the knuckle.

We will use these "liquids" to baste the knuckle while baking to prevent it from drying out. The knuckle will also absorb these flavors as we bake.

We are all ready to start baking our pork knuckle.

Pre-heat your oven to 150C or 300F and insert the baking dish in the oven.

A knuckle this large (1.5kg / 3 pounds) will take almost 2 hours to bake fully.

Basting the knuckle while baking is a VERY important step, make sure to do it at least every 30 minutes.

Turn/flip the knuckle in the middle of the baking process, so about after one hour. This way, it will bake nicely from the bottom too.

For the final 30 minutes or so, turn the heat up to 250C or 475F to make sure the skin becomes nice and crisp.

Once the knuckle becomes deep golden brown and lightly charred, it's done and we can serve.

I like to serve this pork knuckle in a really simple way.

All you need is some fresh bread, pickles, horseradish, mustard and some spicy pepper.

That's it for today, please let me know how you liked this recipe in the comments.

If you would like to see more photos or some optional tips for this recipe, check the Pork knuckle recipe on my blog.

Would you like to see some more pork recipes? Check my Pork tenderloin medallions, Pork collar roast or Pork tenderloin schnitzel recipes, all are very simple to prepare.

See you next time!

Matej.