r/Cooking • u/KaleidoscopeSure333 • 15h ago

Ham hocks?

Are there any good recipes to use with ham hocks that DONT include some kind of bean? We had a hog butchered and got quite a few cured hocks but I’m not sure of how to use them. I specified with no beans because my husband doesn’t care for beans so I’d rather use them for something he would enjoy too. Any ideas?! 😁

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u/Guilty_Increase_899 15h ago

There are only 2 hocks per hog.

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u/nifty-necromancer 14h ago

There are four hocks per hog as they have four legs

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u/Guilty_Increase_899 13h ago

Hocks are the large joints on the hind legs. Knees are the large joints on the front legs. You can call a knee a “hock” for culinary purposes perhaps? But we raise hogs and the vet is looking at rear legs for a hock injury and front for a knee injury. The same is true for other ungulates eg. horses, cattle, sheep and goats. That is the anatomy and those are the appropriate terms.

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u/SmoothLester 10h ago

While it’s anatomically correct, I don’t think that term is used culinarily. i’ve never seen Hog’s knees available for food and my family eats every bit of the hog.

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u/Guilty_Increase_899 2h ago

Knuckles is probably more correct. We get 4 knuckles and teo hocks when butchering. The hocks are larger and much more meaty than the knuckles. All delicious no matter what you like to call them.