After reading Annula’s post, checking out a YouTube video, and getting guidance from Ed, who loves the golonka at the Berlin train station, I felt prepared to take on this new cut of meat.
Golonka means knuckle in Polish. I want to compare it to the familiar ham hock, which I often include in a pot of beans, but you’ll see below that this has much more meat, and a lot less “inedible stuff” than a ham hock in the US.
It’s fantastic with a little sauerkraut, maybe some boiled potatoes, and roasted vegetables.
It’s a Polish classic. If you can find it; cook it!
Smacznego!
Lois
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| The cost – about $2.40 |
(Amazon pays me a few cents for purchase made via links on this page)
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Golonka
- Category: Main
- Cuisine: Polish
Description
A meaty knuckle, so popular in Poland
Ingredients
- golonka
- beer
- stock (homemade, purchased, or buillion and water)
- vegetables, in large chunks (any combination of onion, potato, carrot, celery)
- 1/3 cup beer
- 1/4 cup honey
Instructions
- My first step was to score the outside, seasoning all around with salt and pepper.
- With just enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a pan, brown all sides over medium-high heat.
- At this point, I will advise you to add enough beer and stock (equal parts) to give you a couple inches of liquid in the pan.
- I had a couple cups of a thick, beer based, meaty stock in the freezer. (The Guinness I used in my Irish Stew needed to be toned down a bit at the end, so I ladled out two cups, replacing it with beef stock.) I’m using this frozen beer broth and a cup of stock.
- Simmer, two to three hours, turning occasionally, skimming any foam that developes. Add vegetables at the mid-point of your cooking time.
- Preheat the oven to 200 C or 400 F.
- Heat the remaining beer with honey, warming enough to combine.
- Remove the golonka and veggies and transfer to a baking dish
- Baste the golonka and veggies with the beer/honey and bake for about 20 minutes or until the outside of the golonka begins to crisp and the vegetables begin to brown.
Notes
This could be served with rice or mashed potatoes. I’m using the cooking liquid (thickened if necessary – either by whisking in a roux or a little corn starch dissolved in cold water) as a gravy.
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com, she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
Vicki
$2.40? Is food generally cheaper than in the US? Must be an amazing train station.
Lois B
Vivki – Food and dining out are generally cheaper than in the US, and much cheaper than Western Europe. Berlin Hauptbahnhof is the largest train station in Europe. I felt so overwhelmed the first time I was there.
Sasha
MOUTH WATERING !
GORGEOUS!
EXCELLENT WORK!!
tralf
Looks and sounds delicious. And $2.40 for any cut of meat is amazing.
Fiolunka
Yeah it looks delicious 🙂 and it is 😉 I love golonka from my grandfather recipe. Try golonka with cooked sauerkraut – it’s sooo tasty!
greeting from PL.
Lois B
Fiolunka – we tried it in sauerkraut and it was delicious!
Andrew Bell
I have had this in northern Poland before and very much enjoyed it. This recipe is equally superb – easy to cook, rich and the pork just falls off the bone. I cooked it in a slow oven, gently, for four hours in total and I thoroughly recommend this recipe.
★★★★★
polishhousewife
Thanks, Andrew! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it. 🙂