Pork Knuckle Round 2. Nigella's Pork Knuckle Braised in Beer.

My crazy hock obsession has continued!  After thrashing the bacon hock idea, I decided to go for something that was not as rich.... The pork hock. I did some more research and after some juicy pork knuckle pic's from The Lowenbrau Keller on facebook I decided to give this another go.  This time I added beer, apples, potato and a wee bit of Nigella charm.....  I will edit what I did and did not do.

By the way.  The crackle on this is insanely gooooooood.

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 pork knuckles or hocks, rind scored
• 2 onions
• 2 eating apples, cored and quartered
• 4 baking potatoes, or 2 pounds other large white skinned potatoes, cut into quarters lengthwise
• 2 cups good amber or dark ale (not Guinness or stout)
• 2 cups boiling water

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Put the salt and caraway seeds into a bowl, mince or grate in the garlic, and stir to combine.

 Add the pork knuckles and rub them well with the caraway mixture, getting it into the slits in the rind where it was scored.

Peel the onions and slice them into rounds and add them to the bottom of a roasting tin, making a bed or platform. Sit the knuckles on top of the onions and cook them for 30 minutes.

Take the tin out of the oven and quickly arrange the apples and potatoes around the knuckles.

 Carefully pour 1 cup of the beer over the knuckles, so they are basted as the liquid pours into the tin.

 Put the pan back into the oven. Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F and roast for 2 hours.

Turn the oven up again to 425 degrees F, and baste the hocks with the remaining beer. Roast for 30 minutes more.

Remove the tin from the oven and transfer the apples and potatoes to a warmed serving dish. Lift the knuckles onto a carving board and leave the onion and juices in the tin. Put the tin on the stove over medium heat and add 2 cups boiling water, stirring to deglaze the pan to make a gravy. Transfer the gravy to a serving bowl.

Take the crackling off the knuckles and break it into pieces, then add them to a serving bowl. Pull or carve the pork meat and add it to the bowl with the crackling. Serve with the apples, potatoes, gravy and some German mustard.

Images by me.  Recipe by Nigella Lawson