If you’ve ever had slow-cooked collard greens or stewed pinto beans or navy beans, there’s always that deeper, saltier flavor lingering in the background. Sometimes it’s due in part to bacon or pancetta, or if you’re a vegetarian, miso paste and mushrooms, but often the flavor comes from a ham hock, which is a cut of pork that’s also known as pork knuckle.
On first read, they’re not the most appealing cut of meat. Pork knuckle is the joint that attaches the ankle and calf of a pig; this cut of meat contains plenty of connective tissue, skin, tendons, and ligaments. This is why hocks take a lot of cooking to become tender. Ham hocks are typically cured with salt and smoked, which brings out the very best flavor of the knuckle. However, as all of the collagen and fat in the hocks breaks down and caramelizes, it renders a smoky, savory flavor that enhances soups, stews, and sauces.
Where to Find Ham Hocks
While you might now see them on display at your local grocery store, ask any butcher and they should be able to provide you with ham hocks. They're usually sold in pairs and are an inexpensive cut of meat, which makes them a great alternative to pricier, smoked pork products like bacon, pancetta, or guanciale.
Ham Hock Substitutes
If you can’t get your hands on ham hocks, or are in a cooking pinch, you can use bacon, pancetta, guanciale, or smoked pork sausage in place of them. You can also use other parts of the pig that are packed with flavor but less prized like jowl bacon, pig trotter (the feet), or the ears.
For a vegetarian or kosher substitute, there are plenty of other ways to build heat and smokiness in a recipe. Try spices like smoked paprika, cayenne pepper, or red chile flakes, or other robust umami ingredients such as tamari, miso paste, dried mushrooms, fresh ginger, chile paste, or a pinch of saffron.
“There’s not a single meat I love using to flavor a pot of beans more than smoked pork hocks (so far),” says recipe developer Jarrett Melendez. “Since they’ve already been cooked low and slow, the tissues have been broken down, easily releasing collagen and gelatin into the mix. Simmering smoked hocks with your beans is going to draw both of those out and into the broth, making it rich, thick, and sticky.”
A ham hock, or pork knuckle, is the joint that attaches a pig's foot to its leg. While a hock is not technically an ankle, its anatomical location corresponds to that of a human ankle or lower calf region. Ham hocks are not to be confused with the pig's shank
shank
A meat shank or shin is the portion of meat around the tibia of the animal, the leg bone beneath the knee and shoulder.
A ham hock, sometimes called pork knuckle, is the joint between the tibia and fibula and the metatarsals of a pig's foot where the foot was attached to the hog's leg. In other words, the joint connects the pig's leg to the foot.
If you can't get your hands on ham hocks, or are in a cooking pinch, you can use bacon, pancetta, guanciale, or smoked pork sausage in place of them. You can also use other parts of the pig that are packed with flavor but less prized like jowl bacon, pig trotter (the feet), or the ears.
But unlike bacon, ham hocks have less rendered fat and more collagen, a direct result of having a bone. Because ham hocks and bacon can be used almost interchangeably when it involves soups, stews, braised vegetables, or casseroles, ham hocks tend to get overlooked.
Ham hocks are inexpensive, thick cuts of leg meat that can be cooked and used in a variety of ways. They can be smoked for a flavorful option, roasted in the oven until crispy, or boiled on the stove.
Is there meat on ham hocks? Ham hocks are mostly bone, fat, and tendons, but there is a small amount of meat that can be coaxed off of them with enough slow cooking. They aren't usually meant to be a main source of meat for a recipe, however.
Ham hock is high in protein, but also brings with it a share of fat, saturated fat, so should therefore be eaten in moderation. In terms of minerals, ham hock also contains sodium and potassium.
Soak out the salt: Soaking the ham hocks in cold water for at least half an hour or more before cooking them will help draw out excess sodium so they don't overwhelm your palate with salt. Go low sodium: If you plan on braising your smoked ham hocks, use a low sodium broth or the salty taste may be too much.
Ham hocks can be cooked separately or braised in the dish provided enough time is allotted for the connective tissue to break down. The meat can then be picked off the bones and removed from the skin, but the skin is delicious too, if cooked long enough.
Use braised, smoked, or raw ham hocks to make a delicious comforting dish with wonderfully tender meat and fantastic flavor. The key to phenomenal ham hocks is to crisp them up then let them braise in broth in the oven for a few hours. The result will be perfectly cooked ham hocks every time.
Madonna, when I have a pig processed, I always have the hocks smoked. They are basically the bottom part of the leg and won't go bad any more quickly than bacon or ham. In fact they are, in reality, a small piece of ham. (shrug) Mine always come frozen and as long as I use them up in a year or so, they're fine.
The shank end (or leg portion) sports that classic ham profile, so it's a good choice for a picture-perfect table. The meat tends to be leaner and it has one long bone, which makes carving easier. The butt end (the top half of the ham) has more tender, fattier meat, lending a richer flavor.
Put the ham hock ingredients into a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Simmer gently for 2-4 hours (hocks vary in size enormously, mine took just over 2 hours), skimming off the frothy scum from time to time, until the meat is really tender and begins to fall from the bone. Allow to cool in the stock.
I did some research and found that smoked turkey leg would make a good replacement for ham hocks, adding smokiness and flavor to the soup. The results were even better than I'd imagined – smoky and savory with a deep, rich flavor!
Okay, but what is a ham hock? Cut from the bottom half of the pork leg, it's a chunky, 4-inch section of bone surrounded by collagen, connective tissue, and some meat, all encased in a thick band of fat and skin.
Introduction: My name is Corie Satterfield, I am a fancy, perfect, spotless, quaint, fantastic, funny, lucky person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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