Schweinshaxe (Crispy Pork Hocks)

By KitchenGnome

Perfect Oktoberfest meal!

Schweinshaxe is an ancient German (Bavarian) cuisine. Schweinshaxe  is a roasted or pork knuckle/shank or ham hock . It was special dish for it’s crispy crackling or charred and blistered skin with tender and juicy meat.

To serve schweinshaxe, the authentic Bavarian kitchen usually made Spätzle (potato and egg dumplings) and Rotkohl (braised red cabbage) or Sauerkraut (pickled cabbage).

Ingredients

• 1 meaty pork shanks or ham hock
• 1 tsp juniper berry
• 1 tsp caraway seed
• 1/2 tsp blackpeppercorn
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250ml)  dark beer or chicken stock
• Mixture of large chuncy  veggies (sweet potato, celery, carrot, leek, scallion) for laying the pork knuckle

Preparation

Step 1

In the night before, pat dry your pork shank or ham hock

Mix the juniper berry, salt, caraway seed and black peppercorn  and process it into coarsely ground. Rub your pork shank with the spices mixture, let it refrigerated overnight

Firstly in the morning, preheat oven to 180°C. Place the veggies in the bottom of baking tray and lay the pork knuckle over it. Pour the dark beer into the vegies without touching the pork shank

Cover  and seal the entire baking tray with heavy duty aluminum foil and let and roast for about 1 and half hour.

Once the pork knuckle is fork tender, score the skin and the fat layer under the skin with a sharp knife. Never pierce into the meat.

Expose the pork shank to the electric fan, let the skin is dry out. Once the skin is dry, roast it in 250°C for about 15-25 minutes, NEVER LEAVE THE OVEN and WATCH IT CLOSELY ! Once the pork crackling rind is popping out and blistered, put it out from the oven

Let the schweinshaxe resting before carving
Meanwhile, save the sweet potato and deep fried it until golden brown, set aside
Process all the remaining gravy in the bottom of the baking tray into smooth