Eisbein

Berlin's cured pork knuckle simmered until it falls from the bone, served on sauerkraut with a purée of yellow split peas

Origin: Berlin & Brandenburg

From the journey of Cabbage.

Eisbein is a cured pork knuckle, brined for several days and then simmered gently until the meat gives way entirely and the skin turns soft and translucent. Berliners are firm about this: an Eisbein is boiled, not roasted. The roasted, crackling-skinned version is the Bavarian Schweinshaxe, and the two are different dishes with different textures that happen to use the same cut. The name is generally explained as ice leg, and two accounts circulate. One derives it from the practice of slaughtering pigs in the cold months, when the knuckle was among the cuts salted for winter. The other, older and more entertaining, holds that the bone of the pig's shank was the material from which early skates were made, which is documented for medieval northern Europe though whether it named the cut is not established. Neither reading is settled. What is on the plate is fixed. Sauerkraut, cooked with juniper, bay, and a little of the pork liquor, and Erbspüree, a purée of yellow split peas cooked to a thick paste. The sauerkraut is doing real work: a boiled knuckle is fat and mild, and the acid of the fermented cabbage is the only thing standing between the plate and a long afternoon. Sauerkraut itself is one of Germany's oldest preserved foods and the reason the country's name for its own people became a wartime nickname in English. Cabbage is shredded, salted at about two per cent, and left under its own brine for weeks while lactic acid bacteria do the work, and the traditional Berlin version for this dish is cooked rather than raw, softened with the fat of the meat and sharpened again with a splash of its own brine at the end.

Ingredients

Pork

4 pork knuckles, about 800g each, cured or fresh

Brine

3 litres water
300 g coarse salt
2 tbsp sugar
10 juniper berries, crushed
4 bay leaves
1 tbsp black peppercorns

To simmer

2 onions, halved
2 carrots, in lengths
1 leek, in lengths

Sauerkraut

800 g sauerkraut, with 100ml of its brine kept
1 onion, finely chopped
8 juniper berries
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp lard or oil
1 apple, grated

Pea purée

400 g yellow split peas, soaked overnight
1 onion, chopped
40 g butter

Seasoning

1.5 tsp salt, or to taste

Method

If the knuckles are not already cured, dissolve the salt and sugar in the water with the juniper, bay, and peppercorns, cool it completely, and submerge the knuckles for four days in the refrigerator.
The brine must be cold before the meat goes in, and the knuckles must stay fully under it; a weighted plate does the job.
Rinse the cured knuckles well and put them in a large pot with the onions, carrots, and leek. Cover generously with fresh water.
Bring to a bare simmer, skimming, and cook for two and a half to three hours, until the meat pulls away from the bone with no resistance.
Never let it boil. A boiled knuckle toughens and the skin goes rubbery instead of soft, and softness is the whole texture of the dish.
Meanwhile cook the split peas in fresh unsalted water for an hour and a quarter until collapsing, then drain and beat them with the butter and softened onion to a thick purée, seasoning at the end.
For the sauerkraut, taste it first. If it is very sharp, rinse it briefly; if mild, use it as it is, and keep the brine either way.
Soften the chopped onion in the lard for eight minutes, add the sauerkraut, grated apple, juniper, and bay, and a ladleful of the pork cooking liquor.
Simmer, covered, for forty-five minutes.
Adjust the sourness at the end with the kept brine rather than at the start. It should still taste distinctly acid against the fat of the meat.
Lift the knuckles out and drain them well.
Serve each on a bed of sauerkraut with a spoonful of pea purée, boiled potatoes, and strong mustard.

Notes

Boiled, not roasted; the roasted version is Bavarian Schweinshaxe. Keep the pot below a simmer throughout. Use a ladleful of the pork liquor in the sauerkraut and correct the acidity at the end with the kept brine. The split pea purée wants to be thick enough to hold a spoon upright. Ready-cured knuckles are sold by German butchers and skip the four days. The cooking liquid makes an excellent base for a pea and ham soup the following day.

The Gastrographer

Name: Eisbein
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 3 h
Total time: 3 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Berlin & Brandenburg
Ingredients: 4 pork knuckles, about 800g each, cured or fresh; 3 litres water; 300 g coarse salt; 2 tbsp sugar; 10 juniper berries, crushed; 4 bay leaves; 1 tbsp black peppercorns; 2 onions, halved; 2 carrots, in lengths; 1 leek, in lengths; 800 g sauerkraut, with 100ml of its brine kept; 1 onion, finely chopped; 8 juniper berries; 2 bay leaves; 2 tbsp lard or oil; 1 apple, grated; 400 g yellow split peas, soaked overnight; 1 onion, chopped; 40 g butter; 1.5 tsp salt, or to taste

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control