Pork shank, or knuckle, is the part of the leg of a pig below the knee and elbow joint. The front shank is usually used for jellied meat and first courses, the rear shank is meatier - for preparing second hot courses.
The shank has gained enormous popularity in the Czech Republic and Germany. Remember the famous boar's knee, pork knuckle with stewed cabbage or in Bavarian beer.
We make jellied shanks out of shanks. And those who have a smokehouse love to cook smoked pork knuckles.
Smoking consists of three stages:
- salting or pickling;
- drying;
- smoking in a smokehouse.
But the very first thing you need to do is choose the right knuckle.
How to choose
You need to remember a few simple rules:
- Only fresh meat that has not been frozen, otherwise the smoked shank will be dry and tough. Determined by pressing - the pulp should spring back.
- Be sure to look at the color. It should be pink and in no case dark.
- Don't forget about the smell. It is pleasant, with a sweetish note.
- It is advisable to choose a meat shank that is not very fatty.
- The skin should be clean, light and without damage.
Choosing the right ham
To obtain unique pork, you need to be able to choose the right ham. It is better to take parts of the hind legs, they have more meat.
Ham
Examine the skin. It should not be damaged or stained. A high-quality ham has a pale pink cut color, and the fat layer is small in size and pure white.
There is no need to be shy about smelling meat. There should be no foreign or unpleasant odors present.
Preparation
Before salting, the shanks need to be prepared. If you decide to leave the skin, it needs to be singed to remove the bristles, then scrape it thoroughly with a knife and rinse under water with a wire brush. This procedure will make the skin softer and quicker to salt or marinate.
To make the knuckle smoke faster, the skin can be removed, but the subcutaneous fat must be left.
Pickling
Brine is prepared for salting the shank. The following ingredients are needed:
- a glass of salt;
- three liters of water.
Pour brine over the leg and put it in a cool place for 6 hours. If the shank has skin, you can pierce it in several places with a knife before placing it in the salt solution. After 6 hours, drain the brine, prepare a new one according to the same recipe and pour over the pork again for the same time.
Double salting makes the finished meat softer and juicier, moreover, it can be stored longer.
The salting time depends on its purpose. If smoking, baking or boiling follows, the salting process does not exceed 12 hours. After such short-term salting, you cannot eat meat; this method is intended only to prepare meat for further heat treatment. To obtain an independent dish suitable for consumption, the salting period should last 1-2 weeks.
Another way is to combine dry and wet salting. To do this, you need to take 80 g of coarse salt per kilogram of meat. Rub the shank with salt, put it in a saucepan, fill it with brine (3 liters of water, a glass of salt) and leave for 4 hours in a cool place.
Simple Ambassador
It's time to consider a recipe that is popular only among true connoisseurs of cold smoking. The main positive quality of this recipe is that the fibers of fresh meat remain virtually untouched. Smoked meats turn out to be elastic and quite tough, but if you slice them thinly, you get a simply gorgeous snack that has absorbed the smells and tastes of aromatic meat and wood smoke.
First you need to make blanks in the form of briquettes. You should not smoke a whole piece of meat, as it is difficult to salt, and it will take too long to cook, but this will not eliminate uneven smoking. The optimal thickness and width of the piece is 5 cm. We will salt the meat by simple salting, that is, a method in which salt is directly applied in the form of a dry marinade. You can add a mixture of black and red pepper to the salt. The resulting composition is thoroughly mixed and scattered on a horizontal surface.
Each piece of meat is carefully dipped in a dry marinade and placed in a bag. This kind of salting is somewhat different from salting under pressure. In the first case, the juice is released more naturally, so the meat will not be as fibrous. Depending on the type of meat, the duration of salting varies from two to five days. Once the process is complete, the meat is removed from the bag and immersed in clean cold water. This is necessary to remove excess salt. But after such “baths” you will have to dry the meat by spreading it out or hanging it in a ventilated room for 5-6 hours.
Pickling
Salting the shanks in a salt solution is the simplest option for preparing for smoking. There are other options for marinades. The following products will be required:
- coarse salt – 10 table. spoon;
- black peppercorns – 7 pieces;
- sugar – 3 table. spoons;
- allspice peas - 3 pieces;
- cloves - 1 bud;
- water – 2 liters.
Preparation:
- Put water on the fire and bring to a boil.
- Dissolve salt and sugar in water, add cloves, black pepper and allspice.
- Cool the marinade to a slightly warm state, immerse the pork shanks in it (the brine should completely cover them), and leave for two or more days.
Experts say that pork knuckle does not need complex marinades. Its meat is tender and tasty in itself. In addition to salt, in extreme cases you can add black peppercorns and bay leaves.
Cooking meat
In order for the product to be juicy, tasty, and aromatic, the quality of the meat that we are going to smoke is of great importance. You should choose fresh pork leg. The color of the meat is pink, the fat is white. Don't be shy about smelling the knuckle before purchasing. If an extraneous aroma of stale meat is noticeable, such a leg should not be taken. The end result will be hopelessly spoiled and no amount of marinades or the smell of smoked meats will save the dish.
Wash the leg thoroughly, it is better to soak it in water for 2 hours. The skin will become softer and easily cleaned of dirt. The skin must not only be washed, but the surface must be treated with a knife or metal mesh . This procedure will remove the top layer and what will remain is a delicate and beautiful skin, on which the smoke will fall well. This will give the dish a beautiful smoked look. In addition, when soaking, the blood will leave the meat and will not cause unpleasant bruises.
Marinate the prepared leg. The marinade recipe depends on the choice of smoking method.
Smoking knuckle recipe
The ceremony usually takes place at the dacha outdoors. To prepare smoked shanks at home, it is better to use the hot method. It's faster and safer. You can marinate or pickle the shank in advance.
The hot smoking process is not too long:
- Light a fire, install a smoking chamber and place two handfuls of deciduous tree chips, such as alder, on its bottom. You can smoke on the grill. The flame should be moderate and not blaze.
- Place a tray over the sawdust where the grease will drain. Instead of a pallet, you can use a sheet of foil.
- Wrap the knuckle with twine and hang it in the smokehouse on a metal rod. If several shanks will be smoked, distribute them evenly so that one does not touch the other. You can place the pork legs on the grill and cover the top with a sheet of foil to prevent black soot from forming on them. Close the smokehouse.
- Smoke over moderate heat, making sure that the fire is distributed evenly under the bottom of the chamber.
- Smoking time is counted from the moment when smoke begins to come out of the smokehouse. Smoke for about an hour.
- A few minutes before the end of the process, open the smokehouse, remove the foil from the shanks and hold them over the fire for another 10 minutes to evaporate excess moisture.
- Remove the smoker from the fire and let the pork legs cool.
- Pack the smoked shanks without access to air and put them in the refrigerator for one day.
Smoked-boiled shank
What you will need:
- pork knuckle;
- salt;
- Bay leaf;
- black peppercorns.
How to cook:
- Prepare the shank: rinse and burn the bristles, dry with paper towels and leave on a napkin for half an hour.
- Place beech or alder sawdust in the smokehouse. Simmer at high temperature for about half an hour, so that the shank acquires a golden hue and is imbued with the smell of smoke. The knuckle at this stage is not yet ready for use; you cannot try it.
- Place a pan of water on the fire, bring to a boil, add salt, pepper and bay leaf. Reduce heat and place pork knuckle in boiling water. Cook uncovered over low heat for about 2-4 hours, avoiding boiling.
The smoked and boiled shank is immediately ready to eat. It can be eaten either hot or cold. You can first boil the leg and then smoke it, and you will get a boiled-smoked shank.
Pea soup with various smoked meats, sweet peppers and croutons
Please your family - cook pea soup with smoked meats, sweet peppers and aromatic croutons for lunch.
Ingredients:
- Peas (dried split) - 250 g
- Beef (on the bone) – 700 g
- Smoked meat (shank, loin, ribs, brisket) - only 700 g
- Potatoes - 250 g
- Onions and carrots each - 100 g
- Sweet pepper - 1 pc.
- Wheat bread – 300 g
- Olive oil — 50 ml
- Garlic - 4 teeth.
- Parsley
Preparation:
Soak the peas for 2 hours in water.
Place the beef in a saucepan with water and place on the stove, boil for 2-3 minutes. and drain the first broth.
Pre-prepare 3 - 3.5 liters of boiling water. Then pour this boiling water over the meat and simmer for 2 hours (until the meat is cooked).
When the meat is cooked, add the peas and boil for about an hour.
Cut the potatoes and add to the soup - boil for 15 minutes.
Separate the smoked meat from the bones, cut into pieces and place in the soup (except for the brisket).
Chop onions, carrots, bell peppers.
Fry the brisket cut into strips in a frying pan, then add onions, carrots and peppers to it, sauté over low heat for several minutes. Place everything in the soup and simmer for 15 minutes.
Now make aromatic croutons for the soup: place crushed (chopped) garlic in a frying pan with oil and fry for a couple of minutes.
Cut the wheat bread into cubes and place in a frying pan, fry a little. Then place everything on a baking sheet and place in the oven for a few minutes.
When the soup is ready, pour it into small tureens and sprinkle croutons and parsley on top.
A little about cold smoking
It will take much more time to prepare a pork shank using the cold method; this process is labor-intensive, but the shank smoked in a smokehouse using the cold method can be stored for up to several months.
In addition, you need another smokehouse, in which the fire source is removed from the food chamber. During the time that the smoke travels through the pipe to the chamber, it will cool to the desired temperature.
Rub the shanks generously with salt and put them in the refrigerator for 12 days, turning them over periodically.
After salting, they need to be soaked in water for the same number of hours as the days they were salted. Then dry for about 8 hours.
The shanks are smoked for 7 days at a temperature of about 25 degrees. After smoking, the meat must be matured: it is wrapped in gauze to prevent flies from landing, and hung in a cool, ventilated, dry room for 14 days. Only after this can you try the homemade delicacy.
Summary
Any business requires skills and knowledge. When to freeze and when to pour boiling water over it; what kind of wood chips is best to pour into a smoke generator - everything comes with experience. The process of preparing smoked meats at home is quite feasible; there are no special secrets here.
Beginning sausage makers will be interested in the option of hot smoke processing. For example, you will enjoy Krakow sausage on the same day when “it all began.” But cold smoking requires not only a lot of time, but also certain skills. However, all costs are paid off in the end
We get a fragrant, tasty, and what is important – a natural product
Adviсe
- Smoking in an apartment, even in a modern mini-smokehouse, is absolutely not an option. Only on the street. At home, you can only marinate meat.
- It is better to do this in calm, windless weather.
- The best wood chips are alder, oak, and fruit. At the end of the process, it’s a good idea to add juniper branches for some piquancy.
- After smoking, meat must be ventilated to rid it of acrid smoke.
- Before eating hot smoked meat, it must be completely cooled and kept in the refrigerator for a couple of hours. After this, it will acquire the real taste of a smoked meat delicacy.
Bonuses
Smoked pork shank is not only an excellent snack for beer. If desired, you can easily prepare aromatic hodgepodge, borscht or hearty pea soup from it. After adding smoked meat, all these dishes will acquire a new taste, without changing their usual recipe.
The meat salad made from smoke-treated pork is not bad at all. It also contains ingredients such as potatoes, peas and eggs. You can add cucumber, tomato and parsley. The taste of smoked meat is especially emphasized by vegetables and mushrooms.
