What to do with a Pork Hock
 

From searching on the internet it seems the American term "pork hock" differs from the British cut. So I have included a photo. These pre-packaged pig parts are approx 3.1oz.

Now I am only just getting to know this supermarket :p:
But I already know that as well as having talented and very attractive staff, they don't sell many of these and until the ordering settles down into automatic stock control, these will be discounted heavily.

So I was wondering what I could do with them?
They are already roasted.
There cannot be much meat on there.
Are they really only good for making stock?
Every recipe I can find online is about how to cook them...

You throw it in with a batch of baked beans and let it add flavor to the beans. Then when the beans are cooked, you can break the meat and fat loose off the bone and mix that in with the beans.

1 Pork Hock (sometimes called a Ham Hock)
1 lb Navy Beans (white beans)
1 half cup ketchup
1 half cup diced onion
1 half cup brown sugar
1 Tb minced garlic

In a Crock Pot place all ingredients and cover with water.
Cook for about 6 hours on low, the last half hour add a Tb salt and remove bone.
You will have to stir this every hour or so, and add water as necessary.

Fargon is that cooked hock though?
And are you going on American sized hock?
Apologies if you've taken that into account and I'm asking stupid questions.

Fargon & Glatt, I do appreciate the suggestions, but if I cook beans I will be the only person to eat them.
Baked beans in this country mean something very different. They come in tins in tomato sauce and are never home-cooked (not in the same way as the tinned variety I mean.)

Now I love home-made beans, and I like the suggestions.
This could make a fair few low cost meals for me.
But if there is anything else I can do which might make a meal for my family I'll try that first.
I might ask the meat counter if they sell hocks raw. I've found plenty of recipes for that.
Am also tempted by the pig's cheeks I know they sell - low priced cut of meat, rich flavour, versatile.

Roll on October when I get my 15% discount card.
It applies on top of any promotions or reductions... As I'm happy to cook from scratch (or nearly) I can take advantage of many of our less popular/ short-life counter foods.
Although I will always try to promote them to customers as I will be part of the profit scheme. Less discounting and as little food wastage as possible increases everyone's bonus.

(won't stop me being a canny shopper though)

Hocks are a low price for a reason. Very fatty and almost no meat. The beans suggestion was because I don't know of anything else you can use them for. I think of them as a flavor pack for something else.

That puts the beans recipe into perspective.

This Winter I'll be going for home-baked beans with pork hock.
And if I get too much of a slick of fat on top I'll just go back to my original vegetarian recipe. Used to cook them in Leicester all the time.

Thanks again.
I couldn't get this kind of answer on a Google search.

Sundae, Sometimes the hocks are smoked and sometimes they are not. Cooking the beans in a Crock Pot even if they are raw they will be fully cooked after 6 hours.

what they said !!!

What qbout pea soup?

YUK!!!

Good split pea soup is a thing of gustatory delight.

(And gas. Good lord, the gas.)

Thanks perry! I think mine is pretty yummy. Its a winter fav here.

Each of the recipes proposed here fits well into the genre
of U.S. "Southern" and/or "Poor People's" food.

Back in the 60's, there were attempts to get (white) people in suburbia
talking to (black) people in urban centers by having "poor people's banquets" in church basements.
Some (white) people from the suburbs were reluctant to attend
because they were unsure of what kinds of food would be served.

When my family attended one, I was truly surprised because the entire meal was great.
It was the same food my Mom had fixed and that I grew up eating every day.
My folks were from Tennessee and Kentucky farms, and had lived through the Depression in Detroit.
The dishes were simply everyday, inexpensive, and delicious.

And my tastes still run in that direction, especially in the winter.
My wife uses "ham hocks" in several different bean and pea dishes.
When you add any kind of casserole, "sweet carrots" and "corn meal light bread"
and you have a meal as good as it can get.

I might even try pea soup.
Again, it'll be for me only :sniff:

Have promised Mum a couple of casseroles when the season turns.
We all like them and it satisfies my urge for pleasing people with food without even making much effort.

Still having a think about pigs cheeks.

Lamp, I grew up eating the English '70s poor people's food.
Cheap cuts of meat, long cooking times, everything made at home from pastry to breadcrumbs to chips (fat fries) in an open chip pan.
Almost no imported food, we ate according to what was on the local market.

Eating that way is a lifestyle choice now, usually made by people in a higher income bracket than my parents were.

Nigel Slater's take on the cheeks:
My gosh that sounds yum.

"Southern". No, New England too. Actually anywhere people don't waste food.
"Poor people". Sure the wealthy got the ham but they ate soup too, whereas the poor only got soup.

I love smoked hocks. I use them in 15-bean soup, but my favorite by far is to use them to make greens.

I take one or two large smoked hamhocks, they come sliced, right through the bone so I get discs of ankle/foot about 3/4" thick. I separate the discs, and tear off the bigger pieces of meat, not too carefully, dice it, and then throw all of it in a pot with a couple quarts of water and bring it to a boil. I add salt and pepper to taste.

While the ham hocks are coming to a boil, I take my collard greens which come in bunches about the size and shape of a bowling pin, I take about two bundles and slice them up into "discs" (across the long axis of the bowling pin) about 3/4" wide. Sometimes I chop the wider sections of the stems into smaller pieces. Sometimes the bundles of greens can contain sand or dirt, washing them before chopping them is recommended. I put the chopped collards into my biggest soup pot. I repeat the process with a bunch of mustard greens. They're a bit sharper in taste. My pot can hold three of these bundles easily, four if I add the fourth later after the first parts have cooked down a bit.

Now the hamhocks and the water they were boiled in is combined with the chopped greens, more salt and pepper to taste and enough water to cover it. I bring it all to a vigorous boil, then turn it down to a simmer. It makes a ton of greens, and will last a week in the fridge. Watch out for little chunks of bone, those are for the dogs. The meat from the hamhocks is soooo tender, it all just falls off the bone. The liquid is delicious when sopped up with cornbread.

Serious comfort food.

You have clearly never sampled the pea soup in the Okay, This Is The Most Recent Recipe Thread.

Baked Beans in a Crockpot there too. Also a pressure cooker mod of the recipe, for anyone who has one of those cluttering up the back of a kitchen cabinet.

My dad's French Canadian sisters all made a dish called 'Pig's feet', where you brown the flour, boil down the pork hocks all day on the stove, add cloves, potatoes, dumplings. I've never tried making it myself, but man is it delish.