Eisbein

It is cured and then boiled, and the same cut roasted answers to a different name.

Pork. Not vegetarian — contains pork.

Ingredients

• 2 cured pork knuckles, about 1 kg each
• 2 onions, halved
• 2 carrots
• 1 leek
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves

Method

1. IT IS CURED AND THEN BOILED, AND THE SAME CUT ROASTED ANSWERS TO A DIFFERENT NAME. The article says the first in its opening line -- a German dish of ham hock, USUALLY CURED AND SLIGHTLY BOILED -- and the second a paragraph later: IN SOUTHERN GERMANY, THE COMMON PREPARATION IS KNOWN AS SCHWEINSHAXE, where it IS USUALLY ROASTED.
2. SO THE WORD IS ABOUT THE METHOD, NOT THE JOINT. One cut, two names, decided by whether it goes into water or into an oven. A roasted Eisbein is a Schweinshaxe, and the crackling that makes the southern version worth eating is exactly what boiling prevents.
3. WHICH MEANS NO CRISP SKIN HERE, AND THAT IS CORRECT. The skin comes out pale and soft. Trying to crisp it at the end is making the other dish badly.
4. IT IS NORMALLY BOUGHT ALREADY CURED, which the article notes -- usually sold already cured and sometimes smoked. If yours is fresh, the brine below is five days.
5. IF YOURS IS FRESH, IT WANTS A WET CURE AND NOT A DRY ONE, because the joint is thick and bony and the salt has to reach the middle. A hundred and twenty grams of coarse salt, a spoon of sugar, crushed juniper and bay boiled in two litres of water, cooled completely, and the knuckles under it for five days in the fridge. None of that brine is eaten, which is why it is not in the list above.
6. WEIGH THEM DOWN AND TURN THEM DAILY. A knuckle that floats cures on one side.
7. THEN RINSE THEM AND START AGAIN IN FRESH WATER. Cooking in the cure makes it inedibly salty.
8. TWO AND A HALF HOURS AT A BARE SIMMER with the onion, carrot, leek and caraway. The meat should pull from the bone with a spoon but still hold its shape on the plate.
9. SKIM IT AND DO NOT LET IT BOIL. A rolling boil shreds the meat and turns the broth grey.
10. SERVED WITH SAUERKRAUT, as on its own page, or with pease pudding -- which the article gives as the Berlin way -- or with mashed potato in Franconia. Mustard and horseradish on the side.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Germany · All recipes