Hairy Bikers Ham Hock Recipe

This Hairy Bikers ham hock is simmered rather than roasted, then finished in a thick broth of potatoes, leeks, celeriac and savoy cabbage. And the One Pot Wonders recipe serves 4 to 6, at about 575 calories each for 4 by my sums, in just over 3 hours.

A hock is cheap, and they reckon it “has bags of flavour that the veg absorb”, which is the whole point of this one pot. Then instead of a separate stock, the root vegetables and cabbage cook in the ham’s own liquor.

Boiling the hock for 5 minutes and throwing that water away matters most to me, because it takes off the scum and some surface salt. Then the fresh water starts cleaner, so the broth tastes of ham rather than cure.

Hairy Bikers Ham Hock Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Simmering Cuisine:British Courses:Dinner

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time: 20 minutesCook time:2 hours 45 minutesRest time: minutesTotal time:3 hours 5 minutesServings:4 servingsCalories:575 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

An inexpensive joint is blanched and simmered with cloves, bay and allspice, then lifted out while chunky winter veg cook down in the pan. Then the meat goes back in with a squeezed head of garlic, ready for chopped parsley and mustard.

Ingredients

For the ham

• 1 small ham hock or pork knuckle (about 1kg is my guide)
• 1 onion, studded with 3 cloves
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp allspice berries, crushed

For the vegetables

• 2 onions, cut into wedges
• 3 carrots, cut into chunks
• 3 celery sticks, cut into chunks
• ½ celeriac, cut into chunks (peeled, my addition)
• 2 large floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 3 leeks, cut into thick rounds
• ½ savoy cabbage, cut into wedges
• 1 head of garlic

To serve

• finely chopped parsley
• mustard

Instructions

1. Blanch the hock: Put the ham hock in a large pan, cover it with water and bring to the boil. Boil it for 5 minutes, skimming off any foam, then pour the water away and rinse both the hock and the pan.
2. Simmer the hock: Cover the hock with fresh water and add the clove-studded onion, bay leaves and allspice. Bring it to the boil, then simmer uncovered for about 1½ hours, until the ham is tender.
3. Measure the liquid: Lift out the hock to cool, and discard the onion and bay leaves, which is my tidy-up. Then check the liquid: you need about a litre, so ladle off any extra and keep it as stock.
4. Add the vegetables: Peel the papery outer layers off the garlic, then add it whole with the onion wedges, carrots, celery, celeriac, potatoes, leeks and cabbage. Bring it back to the boil.
5. Cook until thick: Simmer until the vegetables are very tender and the potatoes break up to thicken the broth, about 40 minutes by my timing. Meanwhile, pull the rind and bone off the hock and break the meat into large chunks.
6. Finish the broth: Take out the garlic and squeeze the soft cloves into the broth, then add the ham and heat it through. Taste before seasoning, which is my step, adding pepper and salt only if it needs it.
7. Serve: Scatter with parsley and serve with plenty of mustard on the side.

FAQs

Is there a Hairy Bikers roast ham hock?

Not in any of their books I cook from, so there’s no Hairy Bikers roast or slow roast ham hock I can vouch for. Instead the hock recipes I’ve found are all simmered, like this one, which is how a hock’s tough meat turns tender.

For a roasted, glazed ham, their honey and mustard gammon is the one to cook. Because it simmers a 2kg joint first, then finishes it in a hot oven under a runny honey and English mustard glaze.

How do I make a ham hock terrine?

Their Meat Feasts terrine is a jambon persillé, or “jellied ham with parsley”, made from 2 hocks simmered for 3 hours with a pig’s trotter. And the trotter sets the stock to jelly, though they say 6 gelatine leaves per 500ml of liquid will do instead.

Then the strained stock is reduced by half and layered with the flaked ham, shallots and parsley in a 1kg terrine lined with cling film. And each layer sets in the fridge before the next goes in, ready to serve with cornichons, pickled onions and mustard.

Does ham hock go with piccalilli?

It’s close to one of their pairings, because the intro to their Hairy Bikers piccalilli says to try it with a ham and egg pie. And that pie is built on a 1kg ham hock, so I think the pickle suits hock too.

Their ham and egg pie sets 12 quails’ eggs through ham hock, pork shoulder and belly in a hot-water crust. With this simmered hock, I’d swap piccalilli in for the mustard, which is my own idea.

What can I make with leftover ham hock?

In Meat Feasts they suggest croquetas for leftover hock, using 200g of the meat in a thick béchamel. Or simmer a second hock for their pea and ham soup, which is built around a whole one.

I couldn’t find a chicken and ham hock pie in their books, but their chicken and leek pie mixes chunks of ham into the filling. So shredded leftover hock would work in place of that ham, which is my own swap.

Does ham hock need soaking first?

In Meat Feasts they say to ask when you buy it, and in Ultimate Comfort Food they say to check whether it needs soaking. If it does, soak it overnight in cold water, or boil it for 2 minutes, drain, then wash the ham and the pan.

In my view this recipe’s 5-minute boil helps too, though I’d still soak a hock overnight if the butcher says it’s very salty. And any cooking liquid you ladle off above the litre makes a good stock, once you’ve tasted it for salt.