Pork Shank and Meatball Stew

In a heavy skillet set over high heat, melt a good amount of cooking fat, preferably lard.

While the pan is heating up, mix the spices together (cinnamon through dried parsley) in a large plate. Pat the pork shanks dry and dredge them in that spice mixture, making sure that all sides are well coated.

Add the shanks to the hot pan, 4 at a time, and sear them nice and good on all sides, until a nice golden crust forms, about 3-4 minutes per side. Add more fat when/if necessary.

Transfer the shanks to a large stock pot, add the 12 cups of water, the rest of the spice mixture that didn't get used to coat the pork shanks, plus the onions, savory, mustard and parsley.

Bring that to a boil then lower heat, cover partly and simmer until the meat falls off the bones, about 3½ to 4 hours.

Remove the shanks from the cooking liquid and allow them to cool for a while, until you can safely handle them. Pick the meat out and set it aside; discard bones and fat. Strain the cooking liquid and return it to the stock pot. Add an extra 4 cups of liquid, more cinnamon, clove, ginger and nutmeg and bring it to the boil, then lower heat to keep in on a slow simmer.

Add all the ingredients to a large mixing bowl and mix well with clean hands.

Form into approximately 80 meat balls, roughly the size of a ping pong ball (a small ice cream scoop really helps in getting this done quickly)

Heat a large heavy skillet over medium high heat and add a liberal amount of cooking fat, again, preferably lard. Sear the meatballs (you will have to do that in several batches) until nice and golden all around, then transfer them to the stock pot that has the cooking liquid on a simmer. Crank up the heat until the liquid comes to a boil, then lower the heat and cook the meatballs for at least one hour on a slow simmer.

Add the reserved pork shank meat and simmer for another 5 minutes or so.

To thicken the sauce, toast the hazelnut flour over medium high heat in a dry skillet, constantly whisking until the flour takes a nice caramel brown color and starts to smell really good.

Transfer to a mixing bowl and very slowly add a few ladles of the cooking liquid to the flour and whisk until smooth. Add a few more ladles and again, whisk until smooth. Continue adding broth until you end up with a very thick sauce. In a separate container, mix the tapioca flour and water together to form a slurry and add that to the thick flour mixture. Mix well and add that mixture to the stock pot. Very carefully mix it in with the rest of the stew.

Simmer for another 5 minutes or so, just to finish cooking the flour and starch.

Serve.