History

Eisbein has been on Berlin tavern menus since the 17th century, when the city's pork-curing economy on the Spreewald edge supplied salt-cured hind legs to working-class kneipen. The boiled (not roasted) preparation is the Berlin specific, distinct from the southern German Schweinshaxe (roasted). The dish was the Prussian soldier's evening meal in barracks across the 18th and 19th centuries. In the GDR, Eisbein was the Sunday family dish at HO-Gaststaetten. Today it survives at traditional taverns like Zur Letzten Instanz (since 1621), Max und Moritz and Henne. Pease pudding (Erbsenpueree) and Sauerkraut are the non-negotiable sides.

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 20 minTotal 3 hrDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 1 large cured (not smoked) pork knuckle, about 1.5kg, soaked overnight in cold water
  • 2 onions, halved
  • 2 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon black peppercorns, 6 cloves
  • 2 carrots, 2 celery sticks
  • For the sides: 800g sauerkraut, drained; 400g dried yellow split peas; 800g waxy potatoes peeled and boiled
  • Mustard to serve

Method

  1. Drain the soaked knuckle. Place in a large stockpot with onion, bay, peppercorns, cloves, carrots and celery. Cover with cold water by 3cm.
  2. Bring to a bare simmer (not a boil), cook gently 2.5 hours until the meat pulls easily from the bone with a fork.
  3. Meanwhile, simmer the split peas in stock 90 minutes until soft. Drain, blitz to a coarse puree with butter and salt for the Erbsenpueree.
  4. Warm the sauerkraut with a splash of white wine and a teaspoon of caraway seed; simmer 20 minutes.
  5. Boil the potatoes 18 minutes in salted water.
  6. Lift the knuckle from the broth, rest 5 minutes. Carve the meat at the table off the bone, serve over kraut with pease pudding, potatoes and a spoonful of mustard.

Tip from the editors. Soak the knuckle overnight to remove excess salt; cured pork knuckle is otherwise inedibly salty.

This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.

Where to eat eisbein

Eisbein in Berlin

Max und Moritz ★ 4.3

Berlin tavern€€kreuzberg

Max und Moritz on Berlin's Oranienstrasse has cooked Prussian tavern classics since 1902 in the original ceramic-tiled dining room; the Klopse and rouladen anchor the menu.

Signature: Koenigsberger Klopse, Beef rouladen

Order: The Koenigsberger Klopse with caper-cream sauce; the beef rouladen with red cabbage in winter.

Tip: Closed Monday lunch. The original 1902 dining room is the seating to book; phone two weeks out.

Oranienstrasse 162, 10969 Berlin

Henne ★ 4.4

kreuzbergUntil 23:00, kitchen closes 22:00

Henne Alt-Berliner Wirtshaus in Kreuzberg runs its single dish, a half-roasted milk-fed chicken with kraut salad and rye bread, through the evening. The 1907 room is the most atmospheric late dinner in Berlin.

Try: Half a milk-fed roast chicken with kraut salad

Leuschnerdamm 25, 10999 Berlin

Lutter und Wegner ★ 4.2

Berlin brasserie€€€mitte

Lutter und Wegner on Berlin's Gendarmenmarkt has cooked traditional Wiener Schnitzel since 1811; the wood-panelled room runs Sunday classics and the long lunch.

Signature: Wiener Schnitzel, Sauerbraten

Order: The Wiener Schnitzel with cucumber-potato salad; the Berlin sauerbraten in winter.

Tip: Sunday lunch from 12:00 is the easier seating than weekday dinner. Book two weeks ahead by phone.

Charlottenstrasse 56, 10117 Berlin

More cities are in research. Want eisbein covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.

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