Beer Braised Pork Knuckles with Garlic and Caraway

What is a pork knuckle? I know what you're thinking... it's not that. It's a genuine cut of meat.

Voila

Pork knuckles can also be called Ham Hocks, which more people may be familiar with. It's a cut of meat that I found notoriously hard to track down. Of course, my local supermarket doesn't stock it... that would actually be useful. Then after several butcher trips, I struck gold. This beauty fed three of us (with healthy appetites) easily with enough left overs for tomorrows packed lunch. Getting hold of one of these was inspired by a recipe in 'Kitchen' by Nigella Lawson - Beer Braised Pork Knuckles with Garlic, Caraway, Apples and Potatoes.

This is a cheap cut of meat and would make a great family Sunday lunch or any day you fancy something a little bit indulgent and comforting. 

So here is the recipe:

Ingredients

- 1 tsp salt

- 1 tsps caraway seeds

- 2 garlic cloves

- 1 large or 2 small pork knuckles

- 2 onions

- 2 eating apples, cored and quartered - I used Granny Smiths

- Enough potatoes to feed your crowd, cut into wedges

- 1 500ml bottle of good amber or dark ale - I used Fullers Honeydew Ale for a touch of sweetness

- 2 cupes of boiling water

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Put the salt and caraway seeds into a bowl with the garlic (minced or grated) and combine. Add the pork knuckles and rub them well with the caraway mixture. Spend time giving it a good massage and make sure the mixture gets into the scores in your rind.
2. Peel the onions and slice them into rounds, then add them to the roasting tin so that they make a layer for the pork knuckle. Put the pork knuckle onto the onions and cook for 30 minutes.
3. Get your tin out of the oven and arrange the apples and potatoes around the knuckle. Now here, I realised that I was using the wrong kind of tin so please make sure you are using a deep roasting dish (something missing from my culinary equipment). I had to make do with a casserole dish and the crackling did suffer.
4. Pour half of the beer over the knuckle so that it is absorbed as it pours into the tin. Put it back into the oven at 325 degrees F and roast for 2 hours.
5. Turn up the oven to 425 degrees F, and baste the hocks with the remaining beer. Roast for 30 more minutes.
6. Once the outside is crispy and the potatoes and apples are nicely cooked, remove your tin and transfer the apples and potatoes to a warmed serving dish. Lift the knuckle onto a carving board and leave the onion and juices in the tin.
7. Put the tin on the stove over a medium heat and add 2 cups of boiling water, stirring to deglaze the pan and to make a gravy. I chose to add a 25ml shot of whisky to our gravy for a boozy compliment to the apples. Transfer the gravy to a gravy boat or jug.
8. Take off the crackling and break it into pieces (or just eat them...) and serve with your other parts.
9. Pull or carve the meat and serve it with the crackling, apples, potatoes and gravy. Can be served with a strong, German mustard.

Smokehouse Rock

Here's a little back story for you:

 

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far far away, I was a vegetarian for a year. It started due to my unhealthy weight obsession and the purchase of the book 'Skinny Bitch'. A NY Times bestseller, this book's blurb reads "A no-nonsense tough love guide for savvy girls who want to stop eating crap and start looking fabulous'. Being at a vulnerable age in my personal development, I absorbed it's horror stories about anything other than completely organic vegetables. I immediately stopped eating meat - it's main victim. Before this I could have told anyone that my favourite food was beef (I especially loved steak), so it was a shock to the system but I was completely dedicated to my cause. At the time, I was goaded that I would never do it, that I loved meat too much, that I would fail. Word of advice: Never challenge me. If something is made into a competition, I become a very different, serious person. And thus, Vegetarian Georgie was born. Now I look back on this part of my life with disbelief. 

This Sunday, Rob and I went for dinner at the Soho branch of Bodean's - a barbecue smoke house that boasts the best ribs this side of the Atlantic. We'd been itching to try them out since our move last summer, but hadn't found the time or the money. 

The Soho branch is set into two floors - the top floor is a bar/deli with communal tables, a fridge full of take home products and (at our time of arrival) ESPN on their screens. People sit around drinking beer, eating barbeque and laughing. It is a good atmosphere. The lower floor is the restaurant, where we ventured down to. Sunday was a horrible windy and wet day and so the warmth and cosyness of the Bodean's restaurant floor was exactly what we needed. The first thing I was impressed by here (despite the rain shelter it was providing) was their playlist. It was an eclectic mix of everything I love: Rainbow, Metallic, Simple Minds... I don't believe I've been to restaurant before that played this sort of music and over the course of the evening, it was impossible not to be biased towards the other aspects of the place, purely based on their playlist choices. 

Bodean's cocktail menu was a treat in itself, a mix of classic and innovative at reasonable prices. Alongside this, I could choose from a huge variety of soft drinks, wines or even a root beer float (I was extremely tempted). We both settled for Pepsi, which was ultimately shown to be a good choice after our food had arrived. We opted for a Nachos Supreme to start us off, which we dug into with pleasure. They got the salsa/guacamole/sour cream/cheese balance down to a T. The menu at Bodean's is a menagerie of US classics. They've got all bases covered. Burgers, Hotdogs, Ribs, Meatloaf, Shrimp, Deli Sandwiches, Burritos, Enchiladas, Mac and Cheese and Steaks. We, of course, wanted a bit of everything and ordered the Meat Platter for two - "A selection of our finest meats from the smoke pit served with fries and coleslaw". On ordered, we inquired as to what was included with the platter... our server told us "all the meats". Everything I've ever wanted to hear.

A true test of a restaurant is whether or not they can do good fries. Bodean's thankfully passed this test. I breathed a sigh of relief. And so to the meat platter... Short and Long Pork Ribs, Pulled Pork, BBQ Chicken, Burnt Ends and Beef Rib. It was like I was tasting every episode of Man V. Food at once. It was on tucking into this that I reflected on my prior vegetarianism. What was I thinking? 

This meal was the closest thing I have ever had to a religious experience. The meat... the sauce... the creamy and crunchy coleslaw that cuts through the richness of the meat perfectly... It was heavenly. When the bill arrived, it was the first time in a very long time where I didn't die inside on reading the figure. I was happy to pay for this food and I will happily return to Bodean's whenever I can.  

Everyone need's to put down whatever they are doing and run to Bodean's. NOW.

Migraines, Fish and Parmigiana

Naughty me, been too long since I last posted. So as a treat, here is a video of how to gut a fish, starring the beautiful (subject to opinion) ME! It's also sound-tracked to Hot Kiss by Juliette and the licks which is highly inappropriate as a soundtrack for a disgusting fish gutting.

Enjoy!

So over the last few weeks, when I haven't been busy, a few delicious things have been cooked. One particularly lazy Saturday where I literally had NOTHING else to do, I decided to do a bit of rib experimentation after acquiring two big, tasty racks of beef ribs at Borough Market. As it was a Saturday, you can see that there are no vegetables on my plate... but that's fine, because it was TREAT DAY.

These ribs were, however, a labour of love as they took seven hours to cook. Seven.
You cover them in american mustard and a lot of spices, cook for several hours and then add the most delicious marinade over the top of the crust that has developed. It is mainly sugar.... but it tasted fantastic.
The outcome was some extremely good ribs. The only downside I would say is that after seven hours you would assume the meat would be so tender it just fell off the bone... it was actually a bit tough. We tried another ribs recipe later on in the week... and it was horrific.

Tonight (another treat day!), we cooked Pork Parmigiana. (Tesco didn't have any veal).This was basically pork escalopes in herby breadcrumbs, cooked in a tomato, anchovy and chilli sauce and then gratin-ed with mozzerella over the top. A bit too rich for me, and I think the sauce would have been better as a marinara without the anchovies.

Here are two new products I've tried recently. 

AMAZING. I am addicted. Dried mango is the best thing since sliced bread... and as a bonus, they sell it in Pret!

Now this one was purchased merely because I have had a 3 day migraine and I didn't think chugging half a litre of cider would do it any good. This way I could trick my brain into thinking I was drinking it without the physical consequences. The best part about this is, I was ID'd. Someone please explain to me how that makes any logical sense. You may as well have ID'd me for orange squash. The drink itself seems that if you take away the alcohol, you are basically drinking pear drops. It is inanely sweet. Too sweet. And that's a lot coming from me, the queen of sweet tooth, the girl who ate so much sugar last week she got a sugar hangover. Maybe I'll put some gin in it to balance things out.

Also, I thought I'd give you a little insight into my shopping habits.

Firstly there's this. The BEST shop ever. Two types of cookies, Baileys, chocolate, molasses sugar, butter, double cream, whole milk, eggs and cornflower. This isn't a normality for me, I had just decided to make a chocolate cream pie to take my mind away from the London Riots. Keep calm and make pie.
Plus the Baileys was on offer in Tesco - £10 for a litre bottle. 

This was the parmigiana shop. Plus the non alcoholic ciders. And some Rubicon - something my boyfriend thinks he will buy shares in because he is so in love with it and thinks that it's a hidden treasure. 

Oh, and Migraine patches :)
My migraine is in no way an indication that I drink too much red wine. I'm pretty sure the wine helps fend off other potential migraines... this one just slipped through.