Pork knuckles is easier to cook with than it looks. Here's how to choose, use, and store them, what to substitute, and 3 recipes to get you started.

What are pork knuckles?

Pork knuckles, also called pork hocks or ham hocks when cured, are the joint between the pig's foot and the leg. They are a tough, hardworking cut, packed with skin, tendon, and collagen. There is not much actual meat.

That collagen is the whole point. Slow, wet heat melts it into gelatin, turning the tendon silky and the cooking liquid into something rich and lip-sticking. Rushed over high heat, the same knuckle stays rubbery and chewy.

Cooking With Pork Knuckles

Knuckles want time. Braise or simmer them low for two to three hours, until the meat slips off the bone and the skin goes soft and gelatinous.

The German Schweinshaxe is the famous treatment: a knuckle simmered or roasted long, then blasted in a hot oven so the skin crackles while the inside stays meltingly tender. Pig's Knuckles with Sauerkraut & Dumplings takes the homier route, simmering them with sauerkraut so the sour cabbage cuts the fat.

They also pull double duty as a flavor base. A smoked or cured knuckle thrown into a pot of beans or greens gives deep, smoky, porky body that no quick seasoning matches.

That is why one shows up in dishes like Hominy Beans Menudo and Philadelphia Scrapple, where the knuckle is simmered down for both its meat and its rich stock.

For stock specifically, knuckles are gold. Their collagen sets a broth to a wobbly gel when chilled, which is exactly what you want for a real pork stock or a clear aspic.

Cooking and Pairing

Knuckles love acid and bold seasoning to balance their fattiness. Sauerkraut, mustard, caraway, bay, vinegar, and a good dark beer are classic German partners, while smoked knuckles lean into pots of beans and slow-cooked collard greens.

The single biggest mistake is not cooking them long enough. A knuckle pulled at the one-hour mark is tough and disappointing, because the collagen has not had time to break down.

Give it the full low-and-slow stretch and it turns silky.

For crackling skin, the other key is drying the skin well before the final high-heat blast. Wet skin steams instead of crisping, so pat it dry and salt it ahead.

Substitutes

Pork shanks are the closest swap, similar collagen and connective tissue in a slightly meatier package, and they braise the same way. Pig's trotters (feet) bring even more gelatin but less meat, ideal when you mainly want body for stock.

For the smoky flavor in beans and greens, a smoked ham hock or a chunk of slab bacon both stand in, though each shifts the balance of smoke and salt.

If you only need the gelatin, a packet of powdered gelatin can firm up a stock, but it adds none of the meaty flavor a real knuckle gives.

Buying and Storing

Fresh knuckles are pale pink with firm white fat and intact skin; cured or smoked ones are deeper rose and smell of smoke. Choose heavy, meaty-looking ones over scrawny ends.

Store fresh pork knuckles in the coldest part of the fridge and use them within two to three days, or freeze for up to three months. Cured and smoked knuckles keep longer, up to a week refrigerated, thanks to the salt.

Cooked knuckle and its jellied stock keep three to four days in the fridge. The chilled stock will set firm, which is normal and a good sign it is rich in gelatin; just warm it to loosen.

Quick facts

In Chinese

猪脚

British (UK) term

Pork knuckles

en français

jarrets de porc

en español

nudillos de cerdo

Recipes using pork knuckles

There are 3 recipes that contain this ingredient.

All 3 recipes