Recipe of a hearty meal

Hungarian people eat quite a lot of pork, and I have just learnt the reason: during the 150 years of Turkish rule, the oppressors took all the household animals away, except for the pigs, for obvious religious reason. Thus the folks had no choice but to make the most of the only meat left. Then the Habsburg empire broadened the recipes of pork dishes, the following plate might originate in the era of the Austro–Hungarian Empire.

Honeyed knuckle with buttered potato

The following recipe is from the lovely book by Edit Szabó wine writer called ‘Gyengébb? Nem!’ The book includes 26 interviews, all with female winemakers and 52 recipes and wine pairings. The knuckle recipe is the favourite of Edit Bai, winemaker of Dereszla Winery in Tokaj.

Ingredients for 4 persons

– 2 pieces of raw pork knuckle
– salt, garlic, bay leaf, pepper, onion
– 1 kg potato
– some drops of honey
For the honey-paprika sauce:
– paprika, garlic, honey, mustard, pepper

Preparation

Fill a large pot with cold water and and place the knuckles into it along with a table spoon of salt, 4 cloves of garlic, 4 bay leaves, 6 peppers and an onion. After two hours of cooking we can start checking if it has got tender.
Meanwhile prepare the sauce in a small pot: mix 1 table spoon of paprika, 2 tablespoons of honey, 4 cloves of garlic (smashed), 1 tablespoon of mustard and some pepper to taste.
Spread the sauce to cover the cooked and soft knuckle and place it in the oven. Roast it for 30–40 minutes with grill function at 180 C. It is recommended to place baking paper under the knuckles because of the dripping sauce.
Cook the potatoes with the peel on them in salted water. When cooked, cut them in half and spread them with abundant butter. Add a drop of honey to each piece and grill them in the oven until crispy and red.

Serve it with Kabar

Kabar is a rarely used grape for varietal wines, Dereszla is among the few ones who bottle it every year. Kabar is the most recent grape variety of Tokaj, a crossing between Hárslevelű and Bouvier by László Brezovcsik. On the nose of a typical Kabar spices and sweetish notes appear along with linden honey aromas. On the palate it is pleasantly spicy, and in its aftertaste the oaky notes are dominant with vanilla.

More about Dereszla Kabar

More about Dereszla Winery