Hock it up, baby

I bought a hock, for soups. I'm doing some research. Here's some stuff I found.

Ulitimately, I want a soup I can freeze for lunches, and fill with veg, and hopefully barley.
But this crazy hungarian one looks good.

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Dried Bean Soup with Smoked Pork Hock - Bableve Recipe

Ingredients for 6 servings

- 145 g (5 oz.) White Bean or White Kidney Bean

- 1 smoked Pork hock, about 750 g (1 lb. 8 oz.)

- 200 g (7 oz.) turnip

- 100 g (3 1/2 oz.) carrot

- 1 tbsp. oil

- 2 tbsp. flour

- 1 clove of garlic

- 1/2 tsp. paprika

- Salt

- Sour cream

Method

1. Soak the beans overnight.
2. Place the pork hock in a soup pot; cover with water and boil for 15 minutes. If the broth is too salty, add more water.
3. Continue cooking until the pork is almost tender; add the beans.
4. When the beans are almost cooked, add the other vegetables, cut into pieces.
5. Once the hock is cooked, remove it; bone it, chop the meat and return it to the pot.
6. Make a roux: brown the flour in the oil until nicely colored; add the garlic and heat for a few seconds. Remove from the heat; sprinkle with paprika; add 250 ml (1 cup) cold water; mix well and add to the pot.
7. Bring to a boil; continue cooking over medium heat for 10 minutes.

Jó étvágyat ! (Bon appétit !)

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This one looks so very convoluted, I'm not even going to put the recipe here. Just the URL.

Some good ideas from a forum of peeps here.

And this one looks delicious, but I can see that when you do it properly, like take the 2 days, it would taste fabulous. I just don't have the time.

I think I'm going to boil the hock, add the barely, and then add some veg. That sounds exciting enough for me today. Should I put the onions and garlic, herbs in when the barley goes in?

What would you do with your very own smoked pork hock?

St. Stephanie's Chilli Con Carne, as promised

In case you don't have the Orange Bible.

500gms dried beans (borlotti, red kidney, what ever - but I'm too lazy - I use 2 cans)
1kg chuck steak, cut in 2cm cubes
2 bay leaves
2 onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped (yeah right - pack it in!)
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1kg tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and roughly chopped (screw that - canned is fine. Still working out the amount though...2 cans seems ok)
1 1/2 teaspoons freashly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper (go easy - it gets hot quick)
2 teaspoons paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons polenta

Soak beans over night, then drain and rinse. Put beans into an enamelled cast-iron casserole with meat, bay leaves, onion and garlic, and barely cover with cold water. Bring to a simmer and cook until beans are just tender (about 1 1/2 hours).
(Because I use canned, and they're already soft, I cook the meat like this for about an hour, and then tip the beans in for another 20 minutes or so. Works ok. But of course, soaked beans taste better).
Preheat oven to 180. Heat oil in a large frying pan or cast-iron casserole. Stir in tomato, seasonings, and polenta. Simmer for 10 minutes until tomato has collapsed. Tip sauce over meat and beans, stir will, then check and adjust seasonings. Transfer pot to oven and cook for one hour. Serve it as it is - chilli con carne is a complete meal in its own right.

She's right, too, with all that polenta in there.

Tips:
I added extra polenta once. Don't. The water gets sucked into it, and the consistency is all wrong. Like clag glue.
I go a little bit overboard on the spices, but do be careful, the cayenne is deadly.
I cook it in the oven with the lid off - it turns nice and gloopy then.
This freezes and reheats beautifully. And the meat is always soooooo soft.
Makes for great hiking dinner - reheats the body, and lots of good GIs.

Arse-speriment

Take a whole smoked chicken, bought from the markets purely for its novelty value.

Then come up with a plan of what to do with it.

AHHA!
Remove some of its meat. Chop roughly. Fry in butter and olive oil, cracked pepper, half a lemon (squeezed, then quartered again and pieces chucked in the pan), thyme and rosemary.
Move to a plate, deglaze pan with wine and a bit more lemon juice. Reduce until doesn't smell alcoholic. Keep juices.
Saute leek and garlic. Add risotto, mix. Add the wine juice, allow to be soaked up by rice. Slowly add vegeta stock until rice is cooked, like usual.
Add frozen peas, mix through, 4 minutes.
Add chicken, mix through, allow to reheat.
Warmed crusty bread, butter, pepper and white wine. Tau and Tittle's chardy is nice. But a Riesling would be better.

Phwar.



P.S. Arse-speriment: an experiment that could go arse up. You don't know until you try.