Pork hocks

[NukeGuy]

I've always just smoked my pork hocks for use in other dishes. Would curing then smoking enhance the flavor it adds to other dishes?

[EdF]

For sure!

[aarontbell]

I like taking the boney part of spare rib, the sternum, and hocking them. salt fora few days, smoke then use as a ham hock.

[texastweeter]

that's exactly what I do too!

[nickgutnick]

I have about 20 Hocks I was planning to cure. Should the skin be removed before I cure them?

[Spinaker]

I would remove the skin. Allow that Prague powder to work!

[nickgutnick]

Thanks Spinaker that’s what I’ll do.

[aarontbell]

I would leave skin on. Hocks are usually thrown in with beans or a stew to make the broth liquid into a broth. Then skin adds to the flavor and texture of the liquid they are simmered in. Hocks have a nice bone/skin/fat/tissue ratio which is important when turning water into broth. That is why often they are added to a recipe for an hour or two then removed and the meat cut off.

[Spinaker]

Oh yeah!

[Frozen Smoke]

I've never worked with pork hocks before but I need some for a red beans and rice recipe that's moving up on my list. We have a local meat market that smokes their own and I plan on buying them when the recipe hits the top of the list.

[nickgutnick]

Using the chef steps recipe(kind of)I decided to Sous vide 3 of them for tomorrow. My question is,I pan seared them before bagging. Can I smoke them when they are done? It’s supposed to take 24 hours but is it okay to remove before that and put it on the smoker for the last 3 hours? Last question is why doesn’t this wonderful piece of meat get more attention on this site?