I cooked pork knuckle (ham hock) three times in my life since I first tasted this dish in some restaurant. First time I simply baked it the oven stuffed with garlic. It was fine, but not tender enough for me. The second time I learned that a pork knuckle should be boiled in water before putting it into the oven. This one was much more better, it was tender and more like pulled meat, but lacked some flavour and taste. Since I’ve heard that beer adds great taste to meat the last time I marinated the knuckle in dark beer, boiled it in beer and added beer when baking. Dark beer in this recipe tenderizes the meat and adds some smoky strong and rich flavour and taste. So, if you don’t like beer taste for some reason, or don’t like alcohol at all, you may want to skip the marinating part of this recipe and boil the knuckle in water instead of beer. Anyway you gonna love this recipe, because meat will be really tender and tasty either way with beer or without!

Ingredients

• 1-1.5kg meaty pork knuckle;

marinating and boiling:

• 1-1.5L dark beer (or water);
• 50mL soy sauce;
• 3 onions, roughly chopped;
• 1-2 carrots, roughly chopped;
• 5 garlic cloves;
• 1 ginger, chopped (or ginger powder);
• 5 whole allspice berries;
• 1 tsp salt;

baking in the oven:

• 50mL honey;
• 50mL mustard;
• 3 apples, cut into thick circles;
• 5-7 potatoes, cut into quarters;
• 500g sauerkraut (pickled cabbage);

Method

Take a big pan suitable for your pork knuckle. Put the knuckle into the pan, add onions, carrots, garlic, ginger and allspice. Pour in the dark beer and soy sauce and let it marinate for at least two hours (may leave it overnight). After two hours start simmering it covered with a lid over medium heat. Simmer the knuckle for approximately 1.5 hours (up to 2 hours to make it more tender).

Take it out after it’s done, pat dry and grease it lightly with a mixture of honey and mustard. Preheat the oven to 180C. Take a deep oven tray and cover it with foil. Put vegetables from the pan to the tray. Pour in some tablespoons of beer. Add apple slices and put the knuckle on top. Salt potatoes and place around the knuckle along with sauerkraut. Cook for approximately 40 minutes. If the potatoes are not done yet, and the knuckle looks great already (skin gets brown and crispy), take the knuckle out and let it rest, meanwhile finish the potatoes.

Serve with mustard, horseradish, your favourite beer, wine, or any other drink.

ALWAYS ENJOY YOUR MEAL, BON APPETIT!

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You can find a lot more food posts in my blog as well as other posts on various topics.
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Cheers and have a great day!

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You may also find this recipe in Russian on Golos.io:
https://golos.io/ru--reczepty/@richman/originalnyi-recept-shvainkhakse-svinaya-rulka-prigotovlennaya-s-temnym-pivom-kvashenoi-kapustoi-i-prochimi-ovoshami

Sincerely yours, @richman