Eisbein

Eisbein is a cured pork knuckle boiled until tender and served with sauerkraut and pea purée. It's Berlin's winter classic, and the name — "ice leg" — points at an old, slightly grim etymology: the cleaned leg bone was once genuinely used to make blade-less ice skates in the coldest months.

What it actually is

A pork knuckle is cured in a salt brine with bay leaf, juniper berry and spices for several days, which is what turns the skin and meat pale pink rather than the deep brown of a roasted knuckle. It's then boiled slowly in fresh water until the meat is completely tender and pulls easily from the bone, the gelatinous skin turning soft rather than crisp — the opposite finish from a roasted Schweinshaxe.

Because it's cured and boiled rather than roasted, the skin here is meant to be soft and yielding; a guest expecting the crackling skin of a Schweinshaxe is ordering the wrong dish.

How it's served

• Whole, on the bone, the pale cured skin left soft rather than crisped.
• With sauerkraut and a mound of pea purée, almost without exception.
• With boiled potatoes, plain, to round out the plate.

Writing it on a menu

• Note the curing salts, since the pink colour and flavour both come from the brine.
• Distinguish it clearly from Schweinshaxe if both appear on a menu; one is boiled with soft skin, the other roasted with crackling skin, and they're genuinely different textures by design.
• Mention the sauerkraut and pea purée that come standard, since the dish is rarely served without them.
• Flag it as a cold-weather dish, traditionally more common on a winter menu than a summer one.