Cucumber aspic, Erzgebirge style

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 1.4 kg pork knuckle(s), mildly cured
• 2 liters of water
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 black peppercorns
• 2 carnations
• 4 gherkins
• 3 sachets of gelatin powder
• 3 tsp, leveled salt
• 1 tbsp, heaped sugar
• 100 ml water, cold
• 50 ml vinegar essence

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes; Rest time approx. 8 hours; Cooking/baking time approx. 45 minutes; Total time approx. 10 hours 15 minutes

Cook the pork knuckle with bay leaves, peppercorns, and cloves in approximately 2 liters of water in a pressure cooker for approximately 45 minutes, or approximately 1.5 hours in a regular saucepan. Remove the meat from the bone, remove the rind and fat, reserving approximately 50 g of rind for the aspic. Strain the meat broth, reserving 300 ml for the aspic, and refrigerate it along with the meat – ideally overnight. Soak the gelatin in 100 ml of cold water, finely chop the meat and a little of the rind, and dice the gherkins. Remove any fat from the chilled broth. Heat the broth, dissolve the gelatin, and add the vinegar essence, salt, sugar, and ground pepper. Caution: Do not let it boil. The broth should be squeaky sour and have a strong flavor! Then add the meat, the finely chopped rind and the cucumber cubes to the warmed gelatine broth, heat everything together briefly, season again and then place in a shallow container in the refrigerator to set.