I do love these little treats
A ham hock (or hough) or pork knuckle is the joint between the tibia/fibula and the metatarsals of the foot, where the foot was attached to the hog’s leg.[1] It is the portion of the leg that is neither part of the ham proper nor the foot or ankle, but rather the extreme shank end of the leg bone.
Since the hock consists of mainly Skin and tendons you really need to look at a slow braising method to begin with. I tend to use a slow cooker for this (which are great if you have one) the thing about slow cookers is they take the cooking time of a hock from 2 hours of slow boiling down to 25 minutes!
The real wonder of these little hocks really comes alive at this point as they offer a wonder of tasty dishes.
Lets have a look at a couple:
- Reserving the liquid and hock
- Remove the meat from the hock and shred, disregard the rest of the skin and bones.
- Fold the meat through a white sauce made with the hock liquid. Followed by adding frozen peas and mustard. This makes a great filling for cannelloni, lasagne, tasty pies.
Or
Shred the meat again the same as before but this time you add peas and garlic to the broth, blitzing after 10 minutes with fresh parsley. Serve over the ham hock meat
Or
This time we go crispy! Remove the hock and cool. Oil and season the outside of the hock and lightly oil.
Either place into a very hot oven and roast or better still a real hot pizza oven!
The skin will crisp up and the hock will remain moist and tender.
Serve with an asian dressing of coriander, fish sauce, palm sugar and chilli!
Theres no reason why you cant eat more of these flavoursome yet affordable savoury treats this winter!