Schweinshaxe

As tradition built it

Serves 2 to 4, per knuckle. About 3 hours.

Ingredients

• 1 whole pork knuckle (hind, skin on, scored in a diamond pattern)
• 1 onion, quartered
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 bay leaf, 1 tsp peppercorns, 1 tsp caraway seed bay leaf, peppercorns, caraway seed
• to cover water or stock to cover
• 3 tbsp beer, for basting
• to taste salt

Method

1. Simmer the knuckle with the onion, garlic, bay, peppercorns and caraway in water or stock to cover, about 1 hour, to begin softening the meat.
2. Drain, pat the skin completely dry, and rub with salt, working it into the scored lines.
3. Roast at 200°C fan, reducing to 170°C, for 1.5 to 2 hours depending on size, basting with a tablespoon of beer three times during cooking, a mechanism specifically credited with helping the crackling crisp, not only with flavour.
4. Increase the heat to 220°C for the final 15 minutes to finish the crackling, watching closely so it blisters rather than burns.

What a modern chef changes

Tenderising and crisping fully separated into two controlled stages

Rung 3

Method

1. Salt the raw knuckle and sous vide at 70°C for 14 hours, replacing the stovetop simmer entirely, to fully render the connective tissue tender while keeping the meat considerably moister than a simmer-and-roast can manage.
2. Chill the sous vide knuckle, pat the skin fully dry, and score it only at this stage, since the softened rind cuts far more cleanly and evenly than raw skin does, a direct consequence of the first stage rather than a separate trick.
3. Finish on a Big Green Egg run very hot and indirect, or on a rotisserie attachment, for 30 to 45 minutes, turning regularly, rather than a static oven blast, for crackling that blisters evenly on every side rather than only on the top.