Baked pork knuckle with cabbage in the oven

Roasted pork knuckle is a classic staple of European—German and Czech—cuisine. During the Middle Ages, this dish was prepared using the leg of a hunted wild boar. There are many recipes for preparing pork knuckle, most often marinating it first. However, if you roast the knuckle in regular beer, the meat will become flavorful and tender even without any pre-cooking.

Step-by-step recipe

Step 1:

Cut the skin of the pork knuckles into squares. Sprinkle with salt.

Step 2:

Insert rosemary sprigs into the vertical cuts through two rows.

Step 3:

Cover the shanks with film and put them in the refrigerator for 6 hours.

Step 4:

Remove the rosemary and fry the shanks one by one in a frying pan until golden brown on all sides.

Step 5:

Coarsely chop the white and red onions and place in a frying pan with vegetable oil.

Step 6:

Crush the garlic and add to the onion. Lightly fry, stirring.

Step 7:

Place the shanks in a baking tray and sprinkle with onions and garlic.

Step 8:

Mix 80 ml of vegetable oil and 30 grams of mustard in a bowl, add pepper and paprika, mix well.

Step 9:

Brush the shanks with sauce.

Step 10:

Fill the pan with beer and cover with foil.

Step 11:

Bake in the oven for 2 hours at 220 degrees.

Step 12:

Finely chop the onion and fry in a small amount of vegetable oil.

Step 13:

Add the carrots cut into strips and fry, stirring.

Step 14:

Add 100 grams of bacon.

Step 15:

Finely chop the cabbage and add to the pan. Stir and simmer, covered, for 7 minutes over medium heat.

Step 16:

Place flour in a bowl, add tomato sauce, 150 ml of water and stir.

Step 17:

Pour the sauce over the cabbage, stir and cook for 15 minutes under a lid over medium heat.

Step 18:

Remove the meat and onions from the oven and serve with cabbage.

Cooking tips

It's best to choose hind shanks for roasting—their meat is more tender. They're easy to tell apart—they're larger and meatier.

The skin on a pork knuckle should be light, without blemishes, and the meat should not be too brightly grayish-pink (brighter colors can be tinted with potassium permanganate). Yellow skin and fat, and dark, soft meat, indicate an animal's advanced age.

Before cooking, the knuckle should be thoroughly washed, scraped and freed from any remaining bristles, if any.