This year’s celebration has delicious, juicy and crunchy pork knuckles with beer and citrus juices. Its flesh stays tender from baking into beer, flavored by the aromas of orange and spices, and the crackling becomes sinfully delicious due to honey and mustard.
Pork knuckles need company! You can accompany these with fine salads, spicy mustard, pickles, potatoes baked in their broth or potato salad.
Share with your loved ones your news, your thoughts, what makes you happy and what burdens you. That’s why cooking, dining, partying and gathering are so valuable to enjoying family and friends!
Happy Holidays to all of us, with health and happiness!
INGREDIENTS (6-8 people)
- 2 pork knuckles (with or without skin)
- ½ liter of beer
- juice from one orange 2-3 tangerines, 2 lemons
- 1 small onion
- 2 bay leaves
For the marinade
- 1 full tbsp of mustard spicy or plain
- 1 full tbsp of mustard with whole grain mustard
- zest of 1 orange
- zest of 1 lemon
- 2 garlic cloves (mashed)
- ½ teaspoon clove
- plenty of salt and pepper
For the glaze
- 2 tbsp mustard
- 1 tablespoon of honey
DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl mix all the marinade ingredients.
We spread this mixture on both knuckles and on all sides.
Put the pork knuckles in a pot, cover and leave in the fridge for 6 to 24 hours.
When it’s time to bake them, we pour the beer into the pot with the knuckles, squeeze the citrus fruits and add the juice, pour the onion and bay leaves.
We have preheated the oven to 200 degrees Celcius using hot air. Put the pot, without its lid (!), In the oven and allow the meat to brown well, making a crust. Turn the knuckles on the other side and let them brown. The process of roasting the meat will take about 45 minutes.
After the knuckles are colored, lower the temperature at 170 degrees, cover the pot with the lid and allow the meat to be cooked for at least 2 hours. If you do not have a pot you can put the knuckles into an oven pan and cover it well with aluminum foil.
After 2 hours you will start glazing, it is the process that will make your meat crisp, with a great crust, even if your knuckles have no skin with fat. This is a short, 10-15 minute process that will add extra flavor to the meal.
Mix honey and mustard in a bowl or mug. Remove the pot from the oven, remove the lid (you will not need it again) and with a cooking brush or a soft spatula, spread half the amount on the top side of the knuckles, that is, the side which does not rest on the pot. Put the pot back in the oven (without lid!), Raise the temperature to 200 degrees celsius (using air) and allow to cook for 8-10 minutes. Remove the pot from the oven again, carefully turn the knuckles on the other side, coat the remaining honey-mustard mixture on the sides you didn’t coat before, and put the pot into the oven again for another 8-10 minutes.
The honey-mustard blend darkens the roast quickly because of the honey, making a slightly crunchy crust that is delicious. You are ready ! Remove the meat from the oven, allow it to stand for half an hour and serve. If you like, you can cover the knuckles well with aluminum foil to keep them warm until you serve.
Here’s some important information! Broth that has come from roasting the meat, and it’s going to be plenty of it, is the best material to use. You can boil it for enough time to evaporate a sufficient amount of liquid and it will turn into a thick sauce that will accompany rice, puree or even to pour over the knuckles.
It’s also a good idea to use some of the broth to bake the most epic baked potatoes you can imagine. Add 2 cups of the broth, together with the juice of 2 lemons, salt, pepper and some oregano and cut the potatoes into pieces. Sometimes I think I cook knuckles just to devour these potatoes!
