Set the pot on a high heat and bring it to the boil. As soon as that happens, drop the heat to low and cover the pot. Now let it just barely simmer on that low heat for 2 ½ hours. The knuckle will then be cooked, and you’ll also have the basis for making a little stock to add to the pork layer in your rakott kaposzta.

Remove the pork knuckle and set it aside to cool. Use a slotted spoon to remove the paprika peppers and onion. Pop the peppers and onion into a bowl along with 1 cup of the knuckle’s cooking liquid – a little later that’s all going to join the rest of the ingredients for your pork layer. You’ll also need to reserve 4 tablespoons of the cooking liquid for adding to the sauerkraut mix. (The rest of the cooking liquid can be discarded.)

While the pork knuckle is cooling, you can cook the rice (according to the pack’s instructions) and set about making the sauerkraut layer.

I used a heavy, deep-side skillet, 12-inch skillet for this, but a similarly broad saucepan will be just fine.

First up is toasting the caraway seeds to pull out their flavor and aroma. So, set the pan on a medium-high heat and let it heat for a minute. Now add the caraway seeds and let them toast on that medium-high heat for 3 minutes. You’re aiming to toast them with a few regular stirs until they start to darken slightly. As soon as that happens, add the lard and stir the pan until the lard melts.

Drop the heat to medium and stir in the onions. Let them fry with a few stirs for 3 minutes until they start to soften.

Add the chorizo, garlic, and black pepper, and drop the heat to low-medium. Continue frying for another 3 minutes. Give the pan a few stirs as the mix fries so that the pieces of chorizo just begin to pick up a little color as some of their fat melts into the mix.

Keep the heat on low-medium and stir in the sauerkraut. You want the sauerkraut to be thoroughly mixed with everything else, so stir well as you fry the lot for another 2 minutes.

Now add 4 tablespoons of the pork knuckle’s cooking liquid. Stir well, drop the heat to low and let everything cook on an occasionally stirred simmer for 5 minutes. That’s it. Turn off the heat and let the pan sit while you cook the mix for the pork layers.

But just before you do that, check the sauerkraut mix for saltiness. Sauerkraut is pretty salty to begin with so you may well find it’s added enough of its own salt to the mix – if not, adjust to your taste.

Once the pork knuckle has cooled enough, peel away the skin / rind from the fat layer beneath it. Take a little care here to keep as much fat as you can.

Use your fingers to pull all the meat and fat from the bones and discard any sinew bits along with the skin / rind.

Now tip the meat and fat into your food processor along with the onion and paprika peppers that cooked with the pork knuckle, and a cup of the pork knuckle’s cooking liquid.

Blitz the lot to a coarse texture. Take care here not to blitz it too finely. You want to keep some obvious structure in the pork, rather than turning it all into a smooth paste. Time now for a little frying of the other ingredients for the pork layers.

For this, you’ll need a large saucepan that’s big enough to hold everything that goes into the mix for the pork layer. Set the pan on a medium-high heat and add two level tablespoons lard. Once it’s melted, stir in the diced onion, salt, and ground paprika.

You want to stir-fry this mix on that medium-high heat for about 3 minutes so that the onion softens and just begins to take on a little hint of golden color. Good. Now add the cayenne peppers, garlic, and black pepper, and continue stir frying for another two minutes.

Drop the heat to low and stir in the coarsely ground smoked pork mix. Give it a good stirring so that everything gets well mixed together and continue gently stir-frying the whole lot for another 3 minutes. Almost done.

Turn off the heat and stir in the cooked rice. You’re now ready to start assembling the layers of your rakott kaposzta.

Set your oven to 350 F / 180C.

As it’s heating, you can make the dairy topping.

To do that, simply mix together the beaten egg, yoghurt and soured cream. I used a stout whisk for this, making sure it all got thoroughly combined.

Start assembling the layers by spreading half the sauerkraut mix over the bottom of your baking dish.

Now add all the smoked pork mix in an even, single layer over the top of the sauerkraut.

Add the remaining half of the sauerkraut mix in an evenly spread layer on top of the pork mix.

Use your hands to press gently down on the surface to get a flat, upper layer of sauerkraut – ready for the dairy topping.

Finish by evenly spreading all the dairy mix over the top of the sauerkraut. That’s it – ready for baking.

Set the layered and topped baking dish onto a middle shelf in your 350 F / 180C. Let the rakott kaposzta bake for 60 minutes – until the dairy topping takes on a good golden color around its edges and a paler gold across its middle. Done.

Remove the dish from the oven and let it cool for 10 minutes or so. You’ll find it much easier to cut nicely layered portions out of the dish once the rakott kaposta has been allowed to cool for those 10 minutes.

I served mine with a generous amount of soured cream alongside for folks to add to their liking. And, of course, a little bowl of ground paprika was on hand for that crowning dash of sprinkling.