Porter Road · The cut itself
Buy Schweinshaxe from a butcher who cuts it
Dry-aged and cut to order by a US butcher — this is the cut itself, not a search result.
Pork shank (Schweinshaxe)
Schweinshaxe is known in English as Pork knuckle (Bavarian).
Also called
Erich Ferdinand, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — 00ane_Haxen.jpg
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The Bavarian beer-hall pork knuckle — the rear hock (Hinterhaxe), roasted at high heat until the skin develops a hard, glassy crackling and the interior is meltingly tender. Served whole with the bone, traditionally accompanied by Sauerkraut, Kartoffelknödel (potato dumplings), and a stein of lager. Anatomically the same cut as Berlin's Eisbein (which is cured and boiled), but the Bavarian roasted preparation gives it a completely different identity. Front hocks are sold as 'Vorderhaxe' and are smaller and meatier; the rear hock is the iconic version.
Names by country
| Country | Name | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇸United States | Pork knuckle (Bavarian) | Sometimes 'roasted pork knuckle' or the German loanword 'Schweinshaxe' on US menus. |
| 🇩🇪Germany | Schweinshaxeprimary | Bavarian primary; the front-leg version is 'Vorderhaxe', the iconic rear leg is 'Hinterhaxe' or simply 'Schweinshaxe'. |
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