How to bake pork knuckle in the oven

Baked pork knuckle is the star of many folk cuisines. This dish is cheap, hearty and fragrant, it serves as an ideal beer snack, therefore it is not surprising that the shank is especially popular in Germany, the Czech Republic, Austria and Poland. Icebein and Schweinhaks, golonka and baked boar knee - these dishes are known far beyond their home countries and are included in the treasury of the best recipes of world cuisine.

Pick your recipe

You will need

Schweinshaxe
- 2 pork shanks;
- 2 medium carrots;
- 4 stalks of celery;
- 1 stalk of leek;
- 1 head of onion;
- 2 bay leaves;
- 10-12 peas of black pepper;
- ½ teaspoon of caraway seeds;
- salt;
- 300 ml of dark beer.
For cabbage
- 1 head of red cabbage;
- 2 large apples of sour varieties;
- 1 head of onion;
- 3 tablespoons of butter;
- 2 teaspoons of finely ground salt;
- 8 peas of black pepper;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- 4 juniper berries;
- 1/3 cup of granulated sugar;
- 1 cup apple cider vinegar;
- 3 teaspoons of corn starch;
- 3 teaspoons of boiled water.
For dumplings:
- 1 cup of wheat flour;
- ¼ cup of whole milk;
- 4 egg yolks;
- 1 teaspoon of finely ground salt;
- 2 tablespoons of butter.
Beer roll or polish shank
- 2 pork legs;
- 1 tablespoon of sea salt coarse;
- 6 cloves of garlic;
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper;
- 1 teaspoon of paprika;
- 3 heads of white onions;
- 2 medium carrots;
- 2-3 stalks of celery;
- 500 ml of light beer;
- 300 ml of dark beer;
- 150 ml of liquid light honey;
- 100 g of granular mustard;
- 3 bay leaves;
- 6 peas of black pepper;
- 5 cloves of cloves.
Liver boar knee
- 2 pork shanks;
- 1 head of onion;
- 1 carrot;
- 1 liter of dark beer;
- 2 bay leaves;
- 2 cloves of cloves;
- 4 cloves of garlic;
- 6 peas of black pepper;
- 1 teaspoon of caraway seeds;
- 50 g of green fennel;
- 1 tablespoon of liquid honey;
- 1 tablespoon of grain mustard.

Instruction manual

How to choose a shank

The knuckle is a cut of pork carcass, also known as pork shank. This is part of the pork leg, starting above the hooves and ending in the area of the animal’s knee joint. It consists of a large number of skin, ligaments, tendons. For baking, you need a back pork shank, as it has more meat. The front is only suitable for making soups and jellies. A quality shank has a clean, white skin, without dark spots, the meat on the cut is pink, moist, elastic, light fat, without the slightest hint of yellowness.

Schweinshaxe

Schweinhax is a traditional Bavarian baked shank recipe. This dish is unthinkable without potato dumplings and braised red cabbage. Wash the meat, wipe the skin well with a brush. Boil about 3 liters of water in a large, wide saucepan. Peel the onions and carrots and put in boiling water, add the celery stalks, leeks, bay leaves, caraway seeds, pepper and season with salt. Dip the shank in the pan and lower the heat to a minimum. Cook the shank from 1 hour to 1 ½ hours, constantly removing foam. Preheat the oven to 180 ° C. Place the pork knuckle in a baking dish with the wider end down. Use a sharp knife to prick the skin over the entire surface of the drumstick. Bake pork for 1 ½ hours, periodically pouring dark beer over the meat for the first 30 minutes. 10 minutes before cooking, turn on the grill to form a beautiful golden crust. If the function "grill" is not provided in your oven, then simply increase the temperature to 220 ° C. Do not forget that before serving, the meat should rest for about 10 minutes.

After you put the knuckle in the oven, it's time to garnish, starting with cabbage. Chop the head with a long straw. Remove the core from the apples and cut them into strips as well, peel and chop the onions in half rings. Melt butter in a wide pan with a heavy bottom, put cabbage, apples and onions. Season with salt and pepper, add the cloves of garlic, juniper berries, sugar and apple cider vinegar, mix, bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to a minimum. Simmer for about 1 ½ hours, stirring occasionally. Shortly before cooking, increase the heat to maximum, bring to a boil and pour in starch mixed with water. Stir, turn off the heat and leave for 3-5 minutes. Serve with shank.

Boil the potatoes in their skins, drain the water and let cool slightly. Peel and crush with a crush. Add egg yolks, warm milk, salt, a pinch of nutmeg and 150 g of flour. Knead a fluffy, supple dough. Dipping your hands in flour, form dumplings. Boil them in plenty of boiling salt water. Dumplings are boiled for about 20 minutes. Remove the dumplings with a slotted spoon and place on a platter with a knuckle.

Beer roll or polish shank

Polish knuckle is not only brewed in beer, but also pre-marinated in a mixture of spices, and also baked in the oven twice, or even three times. From these procedures, the dish becomes special, with characteristic taste nuances. Before cooking, the drumsticks are thoroughly washed, dried with paper towels and rubbed with a mixture of garlic, salt, freshly ground black pepper and paprika passed through a garlic press. Spiced shank marinate in the refrigerator. So that raw meat is not ventilated, and also that it does not come into contact with other products, you should wrap it in cling film. After 10-12 hours, clean the drumstick from the spicy mixture and place it in the oven preheated to 180 ° C.

Wash the vegetables, peel and cut into large pieces. In a large pan with a heavy bottom suitable for baking, melt pork fat and fry the carrots, onions and celery on it until golden brown. Transfer the shank to the pan and fill it with beer, add bay leaf, mustard, peppercorns and cloves, honey. Bring the mixture to a boil. Then you can reduce the heat and brew the shank in beer, cover, over low heat, for 2-3 hours. In the finished shank, the meat exfoliates from the bones. Some housewives serve the shank after this stage, while others prefer to put the meat on a baking sheet and bake it in the oven, heated to 200 ° C, to form a golden crust. There is another way of cooking shanks in Polish - after you poured meat and vegetables with beer, cover the pan with a fireproof lid or wrap it in several layers of foil and put it in a preheated oven to 180 ° C for 2-3 hours. Shortly before cooking, remove the lid or foil so that a crispy crust forms on the meat. Serve the shank in Polish with horseradish, stewed or fresh sauerkraut, baked potatoes, fresh bread and beer.

Liver boar knee

The preparation of a Czech dish called bake boar knee differs from the Polish version of the recipe in several essential details. The Czechs do not pickle the washed and dried shank and do not bake them beforehand, but immediately send them to the pan with peeled and chopped vegetables, bay leaves, black peppercorns and cloves. Then the contents of the dish are poured with beer so that it half-covers the drumstick, brought to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about an hour. After an hour, you need to turn the knuckle on the other side and add fresh parsley root, caraway seeds, fennel greens and cook for another hour. The boiled knuckle is removed from the broth, spread on a roasting pan and greased with a mixture of honey and mustard. The knee is baked in a preheated oven to 180 ° C for 40-60 minutes.