Pork Hocks

Tin-tin recently blogged about her holiday back home and mentioned food. I really got excited about dinuguan - a spicy soup made from pigs blood - which I really want to try. I am not sure if it can be made here, since I have never seen fresh blood for sale - but I will bug my Filipino friends if they can make it for me here. I may have to plan a trip to the Philippines for that one.

Anyway, all that talk of food make me hungry for a pork dish I do like and know how to make: Pork Hocks.

4 pork hocks
1 tbls salt
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1 tbls ground paprika
1 tbls ground cumin
4 bay leaves
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 bulb garlic, chopped (I was lazy and used 1 tbls garlic powder)
Soy Sauce (growing up, my mom used liquid Maggi)

1. Wash the pork hocks.
2. Place them in a large pot.
3. Sprinkle with the salt, pepper, paprika and cumin.
4. Add the chopped onions and garlic.
5. Squirt Soy Sauce over it.
6. Fill pot with water and bring to a boil.
7. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 3 hours. Add water as necessary to avoid burning.
8. Remove bay leaves when done.

It is best served with mashed potatoes, although, rice is an acceptable substitute.

For special mashed potatoes I recommend you do the following:

1. use the liquid from the pork hock to moisten and season it (instead of butter, milk and salt to season).
2. add sauerkraut to it.

A word on sauerkraut. Make sure you get the good stuff. There is a lot of crappy sauerkraut out there. Sauerkraut has only 2 ingredients: shredded cabbage and salt. There is no wine, no vinegar in it. The cabbage and salt ferment naturally. Sometimes there will be a preservative added like calcium chloride or BHT (which is fine), but please stay away from any that have wine or vinegar added. Some specialty sauerkraut will have other spices or vegetables added (like cumin, which I don't like, or carrots or horseradish root).

If you absolutely must buy sauerkraut prepared with vinegar or wine, then please wash it several times with cold water, put it in a pot and boil for a few minutes and finally wash again to get the vinegar out.

Remove the pork hocks from the liquid, and make a gravy by thickening the liquid with a bit of flour or corn starch (I use cornstarch because it is harder to make lumpy).

Serve with the vegetable of your choice.

Everything, except the bone is edible. I find the skin and fat the best part.

	The washed hocks.
	Seasoned hocks.
	Ready for boiling and then simmering.
	Cooked and ready to serve.
	Pork hock with mashed potatoes prepared with sauerkraut and drippings from the hocks. I used an extra dark Soy sauce, so it coloured everything much more than usual.
	Real sauerkraut does not have wine or vinegar.

Photo credits: Richard of Forbidden Planet