You will need: Fireclay bricks / Spacer grid
Working hours: 40 minutes
Cooking time: ca. 3.5-4 hours

Preheating: approx. 30 minutes
Top heat: approx. 250-300°C - later 160-180°C and 260-280°C

Ingredients (for 8-10 people)

• 2 rear pork knuckles of approx. 1.5 kg each
• 1 tbsp pepper
• 2 tablespoons salt
• 1 tbsp caraway seeds, ground
• 2 medium-sized onions
• 1-2 yellow turnips
• 1 parsley root
• 1 piece of celeriac (approx. 150 g)
• ½ stalk of leek
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons frying oil
• 2 bottles of dark beer (at least ;-))
  
  
  In addition:
• Salt

Cut the rind in a diamond shape at a distance of two centimeters. This is best done with a cutter knife. The meat must not be damaged in the process.

Mix the pepper, salt and caraway seeds in a small bowl. Rub the pork knuckle thoroughly with the mixture, including between the incisions.
Leave the shanks to stand at room temperature until they are allowed to go into the Merklinger. This allows the spices to soak in better. Alternatively, season the shanks the day before and leave them in the fridge overnight.

Heat the Merklinger to approx. 250-300°C.

Cut the onions, with the skin on, into eighths. Clean, wash and roughly chop the turnips, parsley root, celery and leek. Crush the garlic cloves.

Heat a roasting pan on the firebricks and heat the oil in it. Fry the vegetables well in the hot fat. Then pour in 300 ml boiling water.

Reduce the heat in the Merklinger to approx. 160-180 °C.

Place a rack on the roasting pan, place the shanks on it and place in the hot Merklinger.

Now leave the shanks in the oven for approx. 3.5 hours (depending on their weight). Keep the top heat at 160-180°C. Occasionally add a piece of wood so that the fire does not go out.

Pour in more liquid if necessary. Feel free to use dark beer for this :-).

Turn the shanks once during the cooking time so that they brown evenly.

Halfway through the cooking time, keep basting the pieces of meat with beer.

Once a core temperature of 72-75 °C has been reached, remove the shanks from the Merklinger.

Strain the delicious sauce from the roasting pan into a saucepan.
Allow the dark beer sauce to simmer again, thicken with starch to taste and season to taste.

Now it's time for the crust! To do this, add a few more logs and push the fire in the combustion chamber all the way to the back. The top heat should be approx. 260-280 °C.

For a great crust, sprinkle the shanks all over again with salt. Then place back on the rack over the empty roasting tin and place in the heated Merklinger.

You'll soon hear the crunch and crackle as the crust pops all around. Watch out! This happens very quickly at these temperatures! So - make sure you stick with it!

The shanks are cooked through at a core temperature of 80°C.

Serve the pork knuckle with the dark beer sauce. Serve with wine sauerkraut, potato dumplings and a hearty loaf of bread or lye pastry from Merklinger.

Tip: You can find the recipe for pretzel bunnies here under recipes. Instead of the bunnies, you can also make pretzels or rolls.