We spotted pork hocks in Waitrose on Saturday so grabbed one without knowing what we were going to do with it. A quick look in Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s “Meat” book suggested it wasn’t much use for anything apart from flavouring stock. This didn’t seem quite right as I’m sure I’d seen other recipes where people has used the hock for both flavouring and eating.
A Google search confirmed my suspicion and threw up a few different ideas, we settled on a Spanish style stew. It turned out well; there was plenty of meat on the bone that was delicious and moist and the paprika gave a lovely sweet and smoky flavour. It wasn’t at all greasy or gelatinous as Hugh suggested.
Serves Three (two generous meals and one portion of lunch leftovers)
1 pork hock
1 large onion, sliced
Salt
1 red pepper, sliced
3 cloves garlic, sliced
Parsley stalks, chopped
Tablespoon paprika
Salt and pepper
125ml sherry
750ml chicken stock
150g butterbeans, soaked overnight
1 tin chopped tomatoes
Tomato puree
Bay leaf
Parsley, chopped, to serve
Start by covering the pork in cold water, bring to the boil and then drain. This removes any impurities.
Next, soften the onion, pepper and garlic with some salt for about 10 minutes. Add the parsley stalks and cook for a further five minutes before stirring in the paprika. Deglaze the pan with the sherry and allow to bubble for a minute or two.
Now add the rest of the ingredients, including the pork hock, bring to the boil and then simmer for two and a hlaf hours. Remove the pork hock, shred the meat and add this and the bone back to the pot. Cook for a further half an hour. You could cook it for longer but this is all the time we had. Just before serving, check for seasoning and add the chopped parsley.
Serve with plenty of crusty bread.
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Mmmm that looks delicious. I’ve been on the lookout for gammon hocks as there are a few recipes I’d like to give a whirl. Hugh clearly isn’t up with the times!
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Yeah, bring on the hock! I was totally obsessed for about 2 weeks. Strange Hugh’s meat book doesn’t have many recipes, I made his hock and trotter terrine and it was yum, even though it did look a lot like cat food..
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This is very interesting as I have just done exactly the same as you – I bought a ham hock from Waitrose. And don’t know what to do with it. I’ve got a name for the dish I want to creat… but don’t know how to make it!
Love your recipe. Ham hock is brilliant for pea and ham soup. Utterly delicious. http://aroundbritainwithapaunch.blogspot.com/2008/08/quintessentially-english-dinner-party.html
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I haven’t been able to find a ham hock yet unfortunately; I also have a few recipes I’d like to try, pea and ham soup being one of them.
My word, that looks delightful! I bet it’s a real credit crunch busting meal too 😀
I’ve never been a big fan of pork but I’ve been trying to get myself into the habit of trying new things. I think this recipe looks perfect to get me started on my journey into loving the pig 😀
Katie xox
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Katie, it is quite credit-crunching-busting – the beans make it go a lot further without losing flavour. The pork hock wasn’t super cheap, but it did have a lot more meat on it than we initially thought it would and we could have added a lot more beans to it and made more meals out of it had we realised.
My slicing of it could have been less “rustic” too, there are some rather large chunks in that picture 🙂
It would have been more wallet-friendly if we’d managed to find a pork hock before Waitrose got hold of it and re-marketed it as a “forgotten cut” and probably tripled the price 🙂
That looks like a really tasty, homey meal. Great job!
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Thanks Nate 🙂
So Waitrose does have pork hocks then? That is useful to know and possibly slightly cheaper than my expensive, but ever so good organic butcher.
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That stew looks really tasty!
Just spotted this – looks fantastic. I’ve not come across pork hocks before (only ham hocks). I may look out for one in Waitrose so that I can try this recipe – full of delicious things!
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I’ve just made this, it’s bubbling away now… smells good so far!
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I hope you like it, Jenny!
Thank God for your recipe! We had hocks in the bottom of the freezer from when we killed our pigs last year (Large Blacks). I did this last week and it was wonderful. Doing it again today and looking forward to having more hocks, which I didn’t used to relish at all. Thanks so much, tastes really Spanish and the kids didn’t object either!
Glad you enjoyed it, Sally. I’d forgotten about this until I saw your comment, I have a soup recipe I’ve been meaning to try somewhere, thanks for the reminder!
This is just the recipe I am looking for thanyou. We had it in france, and it was yum! But I didn’t know how to do it. Am running to the kitchen now….
I hope it works out well Adi!
The reason many people are unable to find ham-hock, or pork-hock is because many supermarkets and butchers market the cut under another name – ‘Gammon Knuckle’
My local butcher charged me just £2.50 for a gammon knnuckle yesterday! absolute bargain!
My local butcher charges £2.20 for an uncooked gammon hock, and £2.40 for one that’s already cooked. This is a good dish for serving with baked potatoes or crusty bread. Feeds our family of 7 very well.
I’d recommend trying a butcher for the pork hock (Picked mine up for £2.50). I love the recipe. It looks delicious and I’ll be attempting to replicate a pea and ham soup I tried in France.
stewed Pork hocks are a traditional oriental staple treat. It’s gelatinous qualities make it a real treat. stewed in sweet soya sauce, ginger, star anise etc it takes a few hours but it well worth the effort as the marrow is fab
Morrisons sells pork hocks for a couple of quid each…never seen ham/gammon hocks there though
I love Waitrose, If you look on there meat counter you will see something called forgotten cuts, We have also tried pigs cheeks, not as gross as it sounds, totally yummy! One of the best things ive eaten, served to friends and family and they are all hooked. You can also order things from the Waitrose meat counter.
look up Guernsey Bean Jar.
I come from Guernsey and this is a really nice traditional Guernsey recipe.
Its served really thick, with good thick bread
Pork Hock and Butterbean Stew -absolutely delicious. However it it even better cooked one day and heated thro’ the next. We had two good evening meals. What was left we had for lunch with 50grms of orzo each. Ignore cooking times for orzo – 13-17mins on the packet. Try 10 minutes.
Just giving this a go today, doubled the recipe because i had two big hocks, changed the onion for a whole leek, otherwise pretty much the same. It is tasting (not dinner time yet) brilliant.
Cooked this yesterday for tea tonight, added a couple of inches of chioizo, delish. My OH was a bit sceptical about it but is now asking when we are having it again. Thanks for the recpie