Simple, I didn't have an Internet connection for a while plus I felt sick.
Anyways, about two weeks ago I decided to go for it and buy the pork hocks I often see and Safeway and cook them up using a modification of this Bon Appetit recipe that can be found on Epicurious. It's a recipe for "braised and roasted pork shanks with prosciutto and porcini mushrooms" but don't worry, I didn't actually use most of those exotic ingredients. I didn't use porcini mushrooms or any mushrooms at all. I cooked about 700 grams of hock. . . I think that's almost the same as shank. There was no leek or prosciutto. The herbs were oregano and thyme. I used a famous Belgian beer shown here in place of red wine:
What did this have to do with the recipe then? Well, I followed the braise then roast method. Here are the piggy bits in their braising liquid:
I did the braising and roasting on two separate days. When the liquid cooled, I spooned the fat off the top and noticed that it was like Jello. Is that the gelatin in the animal bits?Here's a glamour shot after it was all roasted up and placed on the braising liquid:
The one big problem? That liquid was really beer-bitter. And while I like to drink beer, I couldn't bring myself to eat much of it. I had sweet potatoes on the side, and that might have made it more difficult with the contrast. The meat was okay though. But there wasn't too much of it for all the bone, skin and fat. I guess it was tasty and okay for a three dollar experiment. It looks pretty crazy. I like that.
Anyways, the second piece that I ate the next day had less meat and I didn't want to eat the liquid and vegetables. So, I stir fried the meat and some skin (yes skin) with zucchini and onion and probably some other stuff and mixed it with rice.
This is probably extremely unhealthy and makes me feel guilty. But pork skin has some appeal.And that's how I ate a piggy part that many people wouldn't. I hope you were amused.
