Schweinshaxe - Pork "Knuckle"

[SierraBBQGuy]

I’ve been searching for a good way to make Schweinhaxe since I traveled a lot to Munich. My favorite place was Haxen Bauer https://www.kuffler.de/de/restaurant/haxnbauer/ very near town center. They cook the Hocks in a rotating cage (spit) in front of a wood burning vertical fire It’s right in the front window as you walk by. You pay for it by weight. When I finally took my wife with me, we are here 3 nights in a row.

Well done!

[SierraBBQGuy]

I’m doing Keto as well, anyone found any good BBQ sauce recipe? The best sweetener I’ve found is Stevia, but everything I’ve found seems to yield some GI issues.

That’s what is called meat! Looks good, & I can imagine what it tasted like.

Tying to do keto for my wife but, she keeps throwing spuds in & loves bread. I sometimes feel I am fighting a loosing battle.

[FireMan]

All the rubs & sauces I’ve used from AR I substituted stevia for sugar. Works for us. I’ve even had friends not tell the difference. I just don’t go heavy with the sweet.

[Potkettleblack]

You kind of have to experiment with different sweeteners, as everyone responds to the various ones a bit differently.

I've been saucing a lot of stuff with Lexington style sauce, with the vinegar profile, which is pretty much keto cool, but then again, I was never a fan of a lot of BBQ sauces.

[CowboyScott]

Just came across this thread as I was looking to make pork knuckle after having it in Bavaria this past summer. I found a full service butcher who cut me the ham hocks with skin on and will be sous vide-ing (is that a word?) them starting tonight.

I have a few questions for Potkettleblack- why roast at 500° to crisp up? I have read multiple recipes and they all roast at a much lower temp and some even use the oven broiler at the end to crisp. Why did you choose 500° and how long did you cook it at 500°?

Also, I'm assuming you shocked it to bring down the temperature before you put on at the 500° so you wouldn't overcook it at such high heat. Safe assumption?

Thanks!

[CowboyScott]

Thanks a lot. That makes sense. I’ll let you know how it goes. It’s in the bath now.

[CowboyScott]

I think I’m past the hardest part, which was finding someone who actually had raw ham hocks with skin on!

[Potkettleblack]

Sourcing is getting harder. My source stopped.

[Willy]

Question: Is this the right cut of meat:

https://porterroad.com/products/pork-shank?variant=1741679132695&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=&utm_keyword=&utm_matchtype=&gclid=Cj0KCQiA14TjBRD_ARIsAOCmO9YNpEia-gXeDC2exoN_gvckDR507AvzKxmyvSzZc71S3N8Kf_dJPCQaAunYEALw_wcB

[CowboyScott]

Made the Pork Knuckle- sous vide for ~20 hours and at 525° on convection oven for ~1 hour. It needs some work to get to how it was in Munich this past summer. Meat was a little dry and the skin did not crisp up like I was hoping. I have 3 more ham hocks to experiment on (love that this cut is not that expensive- $4/lb, so I don't feel bad about experimenting).

Thinking I could boil next time and try to crisp up at lower temp in the oven (many websites claim to do this). Also may try to rotisserie on my gasser, but I could not stick the rotisserie spit through the meat due to the bones running down the center. May also try to smoke on my pellet grill to just under temp and then crisp up over direct heat on my gasser or in the oven. Need to think about this more.

Here is how it looked.



However, I did make spaetzle for the first time and it was a big hit and much easier than I thought....

[CowboyScott]

To Willy- the pork knuckle is also known as the ham hock; I think the shank is higher up the leg than the hock, but info on this is a bit confusing. See this article. Also check out wikipedia.

Whatever you go with, you need to make sure the skin is still on. The shank pictures on the website you linked to have the skin removed, which is very common. I called many places until I found a full service butcher who would cut me the hocks with skin on. I bought 4 of the largest ones he had at $4/lb; which I thought was a great price.

FYI- Here is how my ham hock looked prior to sous vide...

[Willy]

This is a confusing subject. What I have called a ham hock my whole life is much smaller than these knuckles. Further, the knuckles seem to be identified as hocks, shanks, and knuckles somewhat interchangeably. To me, "shank" makes the most sense, but...

[CowboyScott]

I agree it is confusing. I rely on the butcher- tell them I want ham hock with skin on and go with what they give me. I'll ask more questions next time.