Let’s get a minor little bit oriented. The ham hock is the section of the hog’s leg
just above the foot (also termed the trotter). Bigger up the leg, beneath the shoulder is the portion named the ham shank.
The ham hock is a lump of meat, bone, gristle and conceal bout the sizing of a softball. Its principal virtue is that it is loaded with taste. There is rather a bit of
meat in a ham hock that is extremely delicious, but there is also a large amount of superior quality unwanted fat, collagen and cartilage that soften away and incorporate lip-smacking savoriness to your dish.
Ham hocks are commonly marketed pre-cooked, and typically smoked. If you get a smoked hock you may well want to soak it overnight to get rid of some of the saltiness.
Usually, they are all set to use.
You can braise a ham hock, trim it up and serve it as a meat study course. But most frequently it is made use of as a flavoring component. That is why so numerous hearty winter season soups and stews contact for the ham hock as an necessary portion of the dish.
When I am creating soups with ham hocks I acquire the time to score the thick pores and skin of the hock. The moment cooked I can then quickly trim absent the pores and skin and extra fats to reveal the meat beneath. It can be then a very simple matter to cut away the chunks of ham and return them to the soup kettle.
I lately talked about making split pea and ham soup, which is a standard dish in our home. Of program it is the ham hock that contributes the ham to the broth.
An similarly celebrated position for the ham hock is in Capitol Hill Bean Soup, a dish perfected in the kitchens of the Home of Reps. It has been noted that the Bean Soup could crank out a warm glow of bipartisanship.
Intently similar to that is common dwelling-produced pork and beans. Cook the ham hock with the beans for quite a few several hours, then include back again the trimmed meat which will stand in succulent contrast to the tender beans.
There is a staple dish that is common in the South and that is ham hocks and collard greens. This is a recipe that is custom designed for the slow cooker. It is really a pleased mélange of collard greens, ham hocks, onions, chicken broth and assorted seasonings. But the most important ingredient is time about 9 hours would not be much too considerably. As with the soups, the cooked ham hock is de-produced and the meat is returned to the greens.
And for these of you who admire French cooking, never neglect that the ham hock has a welcome area in a massive batch of choucroute garni, the iconic Alsatian edition of sauerkraut and pork. For this dish you may want to have two or three hocks that have been cooked and skinned, but or else left intact with the meat falling off the bone.
1 very last bit of excellent news about ham hocks. You can invest in quite a few pair and preserve them in the freezer for months. Just pull them out any time you feel the require for a kettle of ease and comfort.
In this article are a couple of good recipes that connect with for ham hocks.
Ham hocks and baked beans: https://www.food items.com/recipe/ham-hocks-and-beans-51459
The US Senate version of Capitol Hill Bean Soup:
Braised Collard Greens with Ham Hocks: https://www.seriouseats.com/collard-greens-ham-hocks-recipe
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