New favorite cut of pork

Hey everyone,

Time for one last food post!  Specifically, a post about my new favorite cut of pork--the pork knuckle (also known as pig trotters, ham hock, etc.)--or, in Hungarian, csulok (with the "cs" pronounced like "ch", and probably some funny dots over the vowels but whatever) . . . it's actually more or less the ankle bone of the pig, where the feet attach to the leg
It's traditionally a "cheap" cut of meat, for obvious reasons--it's kind of hard to get at, and cooking it is a pain.  But really, isn't that the whole point of cookery?  Anybody can make a top-quality tenderloin taste good, but making something tough and boney taste good takes some doing.  However, when you do it right . . . oh boy.  I am endlessly indebted to the nation of Hungary (and, to a lesser extent, the Czech Republic) for opening my eyes to the deliciousness of this bad boy

The trick to csulok is that it has to be cooked a very long time.  The tough meat becomes tender, and the fat (which is, as with all animals, chiefly located between the meat and the skin) permeates the meat making it moist and delicious.  Even the skin get a wonderful flavor when you slow-cook it, although the texture is a bit more of an acquired taste
Anyways, slooooow cooking.  This means one of two things:  Roasting or stewing.

For roasting, the traditional method is to do it with a spit over an open fire.  Don't have any good pictures of this preparation, sadly, but we had a fantastic version of the end result in Prague:

Alternately, you see them oven-roasted as well.  This is a bit harder, and sometimes gets overcooked with the meat losing a bit of its juiciness which is a damn shame.  Regardless, I've had some very good versions of this, in all manner of presentations:  Removed from the bone and arranged in slices on a plate, stuffed with sausage and wrapped in bacon then served as a giant log (oh yes, more on that in a later post), or just plopped down on top of some potatoes in a giant clay planter.  Yes, you read that right:

Our food came in a clay planter.  It was delicious.

Finally, I did mention stewing above, and that's a special preparation all on its own.  A little less approachable, as the texture really maintains that kind of gluey-ness that I imagine would be offputting for some. But man . . . I had a csulokporkolt (pork knuckle paprika stew . . . I mean, what else would it be in Hungary) at one of my favorite little neighborhood places . . . absolutely to die for.  Wish I had a picture.  Or the recipe XD
The paprika really cuts the meatiness and the csulok itself gives the whole dish a wonderfully rich texture.  I know it's not as sexy (very much a peasant dish) but it's warm and homey and come next winter I'll definitely be trying my hand at it (oh hell, I'll probably be messing around with the recipe a week after I get home)

Later,

Noah out