Schweinshaxe

My father loved this and used to wax poetic about it, but it always sounded a little overly unctuous, shall we say. However when we were in Germany, he convinced me to try his, and I loved it. Now my son, Johnny wants to try it too, so I picked up some smallish but meaty fresh pork shanks at the grocery store today, and googled up the following recipes. Not sure which one is the more authentic. Perhaps Monika will know.

Schweinshaxe (Pork Knuckles)
1 small leek
1 celery stalk
1 carrot
1 onion
2 meaty pork knuckles
Salt
Black pepper corns
2 tablespoons cooking fat or vegetable shortening
a pinch of cumin
Beer or water
Wash and dice the leek, celery, carrot and onion. Cook pork knuckles, diced vegetables, salt and peppercorns in water to cover 2 to 3 hours or until tender. Avoid overcooking. Remove from water; drain well reserving vegetables and cooking liquid. Preheat oven to 425F (220C). Melt fat or shortening in an enamel-lined, cast iron pan. Add drained pork knuckles, cooked vegetables and a small amount of cooking liquid. Bake 30 minutes. Moisten meat frequently with more cooking liquid. Before meat is fully cooked, sprinkle with beer or water in which a good amount of salt has been dissolved. Add cumin to increase flavor. Serve with potato or white bread dumplings or sauerkraut salad. Note: In Bavaria, the juices and cooking liquid are strained and served as an accompanying sauce.

1 large Schweinshax
Salt
Pepper
Juniper berries (you get them dried in a glass jar from the spice shelf in your local store - Wacholderbeeren)
Caraway seeds (Kümmel)
1/2l Beer (I prefer using dark beer for this)
1/4l Broth (vegetable)
1 cup Sour cream
Paprika powder

Preheat oven to 200°C. Wash and dry the Schweinshax, score the skin (cut in diamond pattern - use a very sharp, thin knife). Rub with salt, pepper and caraway (and crushed garlic if you dig that). Put the Schweinshax in a roasting pan, pour 1/4l boiling water over it, add the juniper berries and cook for 2 - 2 1/2 hours, basting with beer regularly. Make sure that the skin is crunchy, bubbly browned, if your oven has a grill turn it on for the last 10 mins or so, turning the Schweinshax. Mix broth and drippings in a saucepan, add sour cream, season with paprika powder, thicken if necessary.
Serve with Knödel or mealy potatoes and sauerkraut or Krautsalat (thinly sliced white cabbage with oil/vinegar dressing - let sit for a few hours - , optionally caraway seeds and fried bacon cubes).