Homer: Lisa honey, are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon? Lisa: No. Homer: Ham? Lisa: No! Homer: Pork chops? Lisa: DAD! Those all come from the same animal. Homer (sarcastically): Yea right Lisa, some wonderful, magical animal! Of course Homer was, albeit unwittingly, quite right. The pig is, in culinary terms, a wonderful beast - especially so for those of us ever on the lookout for inexpensive cuts. It's not for nothing that the front cover of Fergus Henderson's seminal book 'Nose To Tail Eating' featured a drawing of a porker. So when The Observer, in a flagrant - some might say desperate - bid to boost flagging sales, featured yours truly in this weekend's Food Monthly Magazine it seemed not inappropriate to accompany the article with a couple of recipes based on a ham hock. They aren't, however, something I tend cook on a weekly basis. In fact, I can go months without a single hock-related thought. So it was a bit weird/serendipitous that the good folks at The Ginger Pig should send me a smoked hock the very week before the article was due to appear. So here it is: Ham Hocks II: The Sequel. It's based on this recipe from Mark Hix. I'm not sure that the hock actually needed soaking overnight, but I reckoned it wouldn't do it any harm. Apart from the baked ham itself, you'll end up with a litre or so of glorious stock. I've put mine in the freezer for use at a later date, but right now I'm thinking of a soup with spring greens and pearl barley, the latter because I've found a months old jar of it at the back of the cupboard. Poor old pearl barley - it's like the weedy, unpopular boy who's last to be picked for football, laughed at by the popular kids such as the puy lentil, carnaroli rice or even the thick but burly chickpea. baked ham hock, apple gravy, carrot + swede mash serves two for the ham: 1 smoked ham hock, soaked overnight (check with your butcher to see if this is required) 1 bottle (568ml) of cider 750ml water 3 carrots, roughly chopped 1 onion, halved 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped 6 juniper berries 6 black peppercorns 2 bay leaves a bunch of parsley stalks, tied up with string ½ cinnamon stick for the glaze: 1 tsp english mustard powder 1 tbsp muscavado sugar 2 tbsps honey for the gravy: 1 dessert apple, cored, peeled and sliced a ladleful or two of the ham stock for the mash: 100g (peeled weight) carrots 100g (peeled weight) swede a knob of butter a small handful of parsley, finely chopped salt + black pepper Put the first eleven ingredients in a large pan (the hock should just be submerged in the liquid). Bring to the boil and then simmer gently for 2½ hours. Top up with water if it's required, but that probably won't be necessary. Remove the hock from the pan and allow to cool. Mix the glaze ingredients together and rub all over the hock. Place it in a small roasting tin along with the sliced apple. Place in a 180C/160C fan oven and bake for 1 hour. After 20 minutes, add a small ladleful of stock to the tin. Check every now and again to make sure this hasn't evaporated entirely, adding a spoonful more stock as required - this is the basis for your gravy. While the ham is in the oven make the mash: bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add the carrots and swede. Boil until both are tender - 25 minutes or so. Drain, return to the heat and dry out. Mash well and add a knob of butter and the parsley. Stir and season. When the hour is up, take the roasting tin out of the oven and put the hock to one side. To make the gravy, mash up the apple slices with the back of a fork and put the tin over a low heat. Add a ladleful of stock while stirring vigorously with a wooden spoon. It shouldn't need any seasoning. Pull the skin off the hock and discard. Then pull the meat off the bone with a fork. It won't be pretty, but it will be tasty.
19 Comments
Andy
15/7/2012 12:51:57
Congratulations. I read your piece before I saw this. I thought that ofm was a really good read. Nice one
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15/7/2012 13:43:18
Looks lovely - and, once again, congrats on the Guardian article :-)
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John
15/7/2012 14:48:12
Looks wonderful - how much do the hocks retail for normally? great blog by the way!
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The Skint Foodie
15/7/2012 15:37:29
John - see Vicky's comment below. I've seen them online for £2.50 per kg. Ginger Pig sell them for around £5, depending on size - mine weighed about 700g I think - but they are from majestic pigs.
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Vicky
15/7/2012 15:24:26
I got one from Morrisons last night for £1.99.
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Vicky
15/7/2012 15:48:40
Incidentally, I made soup with mine but saved the meat. It yielded about 10 oz. Soup is very tasty, even if I say so myself.
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16/7/2012 05:27:24
Thanks for the post Tony - a week of ham hocks may be a little strange but no bad thing :-)
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Rosamund
16/7/2012 23:37:40
Found my ham hock today at the Earlsfield Deli and really looking forward to trying your recipes. Congrats on the Observer.
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The Skint Foodie
17/7/2012 05:34:32
Thank you Rosamund!
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Richard Leonard
17/7/2012 03:18:10
You can buy hocks from any decent butcher. Here in Bristol all the butchers on the Gloucester Road sell hocks at around £2.50/£3.00 (per item). For terrine I sometimes use 2 of these, depends on the size, and use Simon Hopkinson's method.
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Robert
17/7/2012 06:39:58
Saw the OFM too. I've saved it for a proper read. Great recipe too as ham hock is an excellent cheap cut. Great write up!
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Susan
20/7/2012 05:06:36
You inspired me to get a ham hock when I was in my local butchers yesterday and I am cooking it up right now.
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Dizzy Izzy
31/7/2012 09:12:44
Smoked ham ends (as my dear old Mum used to call them) were a weekend staple in our house when growing up. Mum would boil up the ham end to make stock for a huge pot of veg soup which would do us Sat and Sun lunchtimes and the meat from the ham end would be shredded and used to fill morning rolls for afters. Deepeset joy and a wonderful memory.
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simon
5/8/2012 03:20:16
Mashed swede and carrot......hmmm, I was force fed swede at primary school in deepest Norfolk and hated the stuff for years. Later, I figured a new recipe and began to love it; peel your carrots and swede and cut them into same sized pieces. Put them in a pan and cover with as little water as possible, bring to a simmer and cook until approx. half finished. Discard the water replacing it with fresh orange juice - not concentrated - and a knob of butter. Cook until the vegetables are soft. Remove the veg and reduce the OJ and butter to a thick syrup, mix this back in the veg and mash. Make a small amount of beurre noisette and mix in, season and serve.
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The Skint Foodie
13/8/2012 22:16:32
Sounds delicious!
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Pigs's Trotters
11/8/2012 06:34:47
Serious Q, Is Ham Hock the same as Pig's Trotters ?
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The Skint Foodie
13/8/2012 22:15:38
No. It's the bit of the leg above the trotter and below the ham.
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Meg
18/5/2015 02:13:48
How can you possibly say that about barley?! Barley is the shizz! Barley risotto for lunch, today.
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