Looking for a delicious irresistibly filling meal? Roasted ham hock may use a bit of time in the heat but it’ll well worth the ordeal!

There is a special place in the heart for anyone who has ever tried ham hock. There is a story in every one of us be it full of sorrow or happiness that in some way defined our future and ham hock was involved.

After all, pig isn’t an animal symbolizing luck for nothing. The Chinese zodiac counts them on the somewhat unflattering last place but that hasn’t stopped the pig enjoying life. In fact, stopping to enjoy life made the pig who it is today.

Legend has that when Buddha called for a race among the animals through a river, the pig came last. It was not because pigs are such lame swimmers as their body shape suggest but because it stopped during the race for a little feast. After the feast, it fell asleep and only then could continue the race.

Buddha almost called the race a day when saw the pig happily trotting out of the water. Upon learning why it arrived so late, he named the last year after the pig.

People who were born in the year of the pig are thought to be lucky with a great gift of enjoying life and not only food but all of the beauty in it.

The pig knew that life was too short for not to enjoy the good things in it. Luckily, its knowledge about these things were limited, otherwise if it stopped for a Game of Thrones marathon, he would have never made it to the end of the race.

Now we have arrived to the looming doom in our first world. Some time ago the human race had to do self-constrains to be able to survive the months scarce in food supply. Now that we have more than enough that we need, we have to constrain ourselves to avoid feeding ourselves to early death.

It’s the evolutionary level of surviving for months on a raft on the sea without much food or water but lots of luck. Not many could survive a ham hock feast after such ordeal.

Interestingly, ham hocks were never considered to be something to feast on. It’s a fairly cheap cut that can be found at all that requires elaborate preparation method to make it edible, given the number of tendons and ligaments it contains.

Throughout Europe it was a peasant food during centuries and as peasants also liked eating tasty food, they had to come up with ways to make one from the ingredients they had.

Ham hocks or pork knuckles as the part between the ham and pork feet is called, needs at least an hour of boiling, possibly with some spices, herbs and vegetables to make it tender and flavorful. Then popping it into the oven for a couple of hours will help with its final shape and color, given that we are after roast ham hock.

Smoked ham hocks are even better if we can lay our hands on such things, especially for soup or aspic but if fresh uncured knuckles are the only ones we have available then roasting them will be the perfect choice.

If there are big enough pots available, we can make lentil, bean or chick pea soup with the knuckles cooking them in the same water. When the soup is done, we can roast the knuckles ready in the oven preparing two long but delicious dishes in one go.

Ingredients

6 pieces / 3kg Ham hock
5 pieces / 0.7g Bay leaf
1 teaspoon / 0.5g Black pepper
3 teaspoons /15g Salt (adjust if brine used)
½ head / 18g Garlic
2 pieces / 200g Onion
2 stalk / 100g Celery

How to make roast ham hock

Brine ham hock 24 hours before cooking in a 5% brine if possible so it will retain more moisture. Check out How to make brine.

Remove the outer layer of the onion, rinse the celery or any additional vegetables. Get a big enough cooking pot to put in all the ingredients.
Don’t forget the ham hocks.
Fill it up with water so all the ingredients are submerged. Put it on the cook top and bring it to boil on high heat. Reduce the heat and cook it until the meat separates from the bones easily for about 60-90 minutes.
Take the cooked ham hocks out and place them onto a baking tray.
Add optional vegetables that will serve as side dish. Put the tray into a 390°F / 200°C preheated oven. When one side gets the desired golden brown color after about 60 minutes flip the ham hocks to their other side and let them roast for another 60 minutes.
Make sure that they have enough oil or fat on them. If not then brush on some juice from the bottom of the tray in about every 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Note: Brine ham hock 24 hours before cooking in a 5% brine if possible so it will retain more moisture. Check out How to make brine.

If ham hock was a joy check out some other mouthwatering happy feet that can be served at the table:

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Ham Hock Recipe

Looking for a delicious irresistibly filling meal? Roasted ham hock may use a bit of time in the heat but it'll well worth the ordeal!

Course Low Carb Meal, Main Course, Meal

Cuisine Dairy free, Gluten free, Keto, Low carb recipe, Paleo, Sugar free recipe

Prep Time 1 30

Cook Time 2

Ingredients

Instructions

Remove the outer layer of the onion, rinse the celery or any additional vegetables. Get a big enough cooking pot to put in all the ingredients.
Don’t forget the ham hocks.
Fill it up with water so all the ingredients are submerged. Put it on the cook top and bring it to boil on high heat. Reduce the heat and cook it until the meat separates from the bones easily for about 60-90 minutes.
Take the cooked ham hocks out and place them onto a baking tray.
Add optional vegetables that will serve as side dish. Put the tray into a 390°F / 200°C preheated oven. When one side gets the desired golden brown color after about 60 minutes flip the ham hocks to their other side and let them roast for another 60 minutes.
Make sure that they have enough oil or fat on them. If not then brush on some juice from the bottom of the tray in about every 30 minutes.