Every week, I document another dish that impressed and satiated me during my food adventures around New York City
When you have a brewery attached to your restaurant, as is the case with the new brewpub Dirck the Norseman, you have the best cooking ingredient you could possibly imagine. The only thing I could think of that might be more appropriate for cooking would be if the big room in the back was mining salt instead of brewing beer.
Many brewpubs take their beer and add it into mustard or steam mussels in it. Not Dirck the Norseman. Here they take Riegle Kellerbier (a German beer imported by owner Ed Raven) and use it for braising pig knuckle. Yes, I said pig knuckle.
The meat on pork knuckle can be very fatty and sinewy around the bone, but you’d never know it from this tender specimen. Each touch of the fork pulls the browned meat away and there’s just enough fat to make it rich and juicy without being unctuous or unpleasant. The strong aromas from the beer and pork jus make you feel like you’re experiencing the flavors before the first piece even enters your mouth.
But when it does, it’s rich and porky, perfect for pairing with one of the homemade beers. The dish is known as schweinshaxe in German, where it is often considered a specialty. Dirck the Norseman is smartly taking these German traditions and giving us New Yorkers our own brewpub to be very thankful for.
| DIRCK THE NORSEMAN |
| 7 North 15th Street (at Franklin Street), Greenpoint, Brooklyn (718) 389-2940 |
| dirckthenorseman.com |
