Hi everyone, today I have a delicious pork knuckle with sauerkraut for you – crisp roasted in the oven with a savory beer sauce. This recipe is very easy to follow, and you will have a real feast with this traditional dish. I like to use a cured pork leg and roast it on a bed of carrots, celery, onions and leeks on low heat in the oven for a good 2.5 hours. I have included the recipe for a “Typical German Sauerkraut” with this recipe for pork knuckle right away. Is a recipe for a quintessential Oktoberfest feast!
Typical Bavarian pork knuckle with crispy crackling and tender meat served with authentic German sauerkraut!
Crispy pork knuckle with sauerkraut is a very classic German dish and known in this country as “Schweinshaxe mit Sauerkraut”. In Bavaria, it is not only eaten with sauerkraut, but often with fresh white cabbage cooked with caraway seeds as well. There are also different ways to prepare the pork knuckle. Unlike in Bavaria, in Berlin, for example, people like to eat the pork knuckle in the cooked version, which is then called “Eisbein”.
As a side dish, there is usually sauerkraut and mashed peas. Also here in Westphalia it was originally common to boil the pork leg rather than roast it. As a side dish, mashed potatoes and sauerkraut were usually served. Personally, I like both the crispy roasted pork knuckle from the oven and the boiled knuckle of pork, but my family prefers the crispy oven-baked pork knuckle. My children love to
eat homemade bread dumplings with it. They go very well with the rich beer sauce.
Together with sauerkraut, this is a really hearty and typically German dish and, above all, incredibly delicious. On my blog you can find a simple recipe for homemade bread dumplings, and I would love for you to try it out. I am an absolute potato lover and prefer to eat mashed potatoes with hearty meat dishes – including crispy pork knuckle. Juicy pork knuckle with crispy crust and kraut My grandma used to boil the pork knuckle more often and preferred this way of preparation.
Crispy pork knuckle recipe with sauerkraut!
At our home nowadays, we mainly have the roasted pork knuckle, because my family likes it so much better. Just like the delicious roast pork with the crispy crust, they love the crispy baked skin of the pork knuckle. It comes with delicious bread dumplings and sauerkraut and a tasty beer sauce made from the broth of the meat. Since we haven’t made it to the “Cannstatter Wasen” or the “Oktoberfest” (popular funfairs in the south of Germany) in the last few years, where there are heaps of delicious traditional foods, we like to eat these typical and hearty dishes at home during this time.
I’m not really a fan of drinking beer, especially not with food, but this is one of the very few dishes that I like to drink a pint of beer with. There’s really only one other food that I like beer with, and that’s a “Mettbrötchen”, a bread bun with very fresh, finely grinded and seasoned raw pork meat. For every other dish, I prefer a nice glass of wine or non-alcoholic beverages. As an alternative to the typical German sauerkraut, braised white cabbage with paprika powder in Hungarian style tastes very good with the knuckle as well.
My brother-in-law’s family came from Pécs in Hungary and I also love to eat it prepared this way. I will share the recipe for the Hungarian cabbage with you on the blog soon. In our family, various nationalities are present and I like to be inspired by their recipes and add one or the other to my collection. After all, you never stop learning, right?!
There are so many different regional ways to prepare the Pork Knuckle or Sauerkraut. In the French region of Alsace there is the “Route de la Choucroute”, the sauerkraut road, where the sauerkraut is prepared with many different sausages and meats including pork knuckle. These dishes are incredibly delicious and if you are in Alsace you should definitely try their tasty variations.
Sauerkraut – a German classic Recipe!
We have done this a few times and found it very enjoyable. Besides, Alsace is beautiful and romantic and also worth a trip regardless of the amazing cuisine. I hope you enjoy reading, strolling through and trying out my cooking and baking
recipes! A crispy pork knuckle recipe with kraut Simple recipe for a delicious hearty crispy pork knuckle oven roasted with the typical side dish of sauerkraut. The knuckle is served with a rich beer sauce. It goes very well with bread dumplings, potato dumplings or mashed potatoes.
Equipment
- 1 cutting board
- 1 sharp knife
- 1 paring knife
- 1 bowl
Ingredients
- 2 large knuckles of pork (salt-cured and smoked)
- 2 carrots
- 1 onion large
- 1/4 celery root
- 1/2 leek
- 1 clove of garlic
- beer (I prefer dark "Weizenbier ", a beer that is highly fermented)
- 100 ml vegetable broth
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp caraway seeds
- 2 tbsp mayoran
German Sauerkraut Recipe
- 1000 g Sauerkraut (you can use canned kraut)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 onion
- 6-8 juniper berries
- 2 tbsp clarified butter or lard
- 1 tbsp honey
- 150 ml vegetable broth
- 1 tsp salt
- 150 ml white wine dry
- white pepper
Pork knuckle
Instructions
- How to prepare the pork knuckle: Prepare all ingredients. Wash the shanks with cold water and score the skin with a sharp knife. Grind the caraway seeds with salt and marjoram in a mortar.
- Wash, peel and chop the carrots, onion, garlic and celery. Wash the leeks under running water and cut them into small slices. Rub the pork knuckles well on all sides with the ground spices.
- Put the soup vegetables in a baking dish and place the seasoned knuckles on top. The oven should be preheated to 180 degrees beforehand. Place the pork knuckles in the preheated oven and reduce the temperature to 140 degrees. Then let the shanks braise for 120 minutes and pour the beer into it after 60 minutes.
- When the 120 minutes of braising have passed, drain the vegetables and the broth into a pot and put the knuckles back into the oven. Turn the oven up to 180 – 200 degrees. The knuckles will take about 20 – 25 minutes to get nice and crispy.
- Bring the vegetables to the boil with the stock and a bit of vegetable stock, and purée well with a blender. Then season with a little salt, and you already have a heavenly sauce.
How to prepare sauerkraut
- Drain the sauerkraut a little. Wash and peel the onion and the apple and cut them into pieces. Heat some clarified butter in a pot and sauté the onion cubes briefly.
- Add the sauerkraut, apple cubes, juniper berries, salt and bay leaves.
- Let everything simmer on low heat for about 40 minutes. Towards the end of the cooking time, stir a large spoonful of honey into the sauerkraut and season with salt.
