Hello everybody,
We have a wonderful neighbour who owns a farm just around the corner from us. He has a wonderful friend who raises his own pigs. He treats them like gold and when the time comes for them to fulfill their destiny and turn into chops and roasts, he does the deed himself quickly and efficiently. After which he butchers them and packages up the meat.
We were asked last autumn if we would like to buy some of his meat. We decided to buy 1/2 a pig. Our share turned out to be 56 pounds of meat. We got one large ham (unsmoked), several packages of bacon, lots of chops and roasts and then there are the "odd bits" that people often do not know what to do with.
We have used up almost all the meat except the ham and we had two packages of "hocks" left.
Now to be perfectly honest, I had not cooked pork hocks before but I assure you that did not deter me. I looked them up in a couple cookbooks and found a wonderful recipe. So we had them for dinner tonight.
The recipe is simplicity itself. Saute an onion in some olive oil in an oven proof casserole. Add a jar of sauerkraut, a bit of pepper and a couple of bay leaves and sit the pork hocks on top. Cover and into a 325F degree oven for a couple of hours. The house began to smell wonderful and let me tell you, the meat was tender and delicious. I do not think this photo really does it justice.
There is absolutely nothing at all to be scared of by the "other" cuts of meat. I think that if we are going to eat meat then it would be truly sinful to waste any of it since an animal had to die for us to eat it. Climbing down off soap box now! :)
I believe that part of the problem is when we go to the supermarket we only see the standard cuts of meat. You know, the pork chops, hams, bacon, etc. For some reason we rarely ever see all the other bits and bobs. I have no idea what they do with them. There is the difference when you get your meat directly from the source. This chap who raises the pigs does his own butchering so he makes sure that you are getting ALL of the meat, not just the common bits. After he took such care to raise these animals, it is now my job to do it justice when I cook it. Try getting your meat directly from the source if you have the chance, whether it is pork, poultry or beef.
That is it for me for tonight. Thanks for visiting. Cheers.
We have a wonderful neighbour who owns a farm just around the corner from us. He has a wonderful friend who raises his own pigs. He treats them like gold and when the time comes for them to fulfill their destiny and turn into chops and roasts, he does the deed himself quickly and efficiently. After which he butchers them and packages up the meat.
We were asked last autumn if we would like to buy some of his meat. We decided to buy 1/2 a pig. Our share turned out to be 56 pounds of meat. We got one large ham (unsmoked), several packages of bacon, lots of chops and roasts and then there are the "odd bits" that people often do not know what to do with.
We have used up almost all the meat except the ham and we had two packages of "hocks" left.
Now to be perfectly honest, I had not cooked pork hocks before but I assure you that did not deter me. I looked them up in a couple cookbooks and found a wonderful recipe. So we had them for dinner tonight.
The recipe is simplicity itself. Saute an onion in some olive oil in an oven proof casserole. Add a jar of sauerkraut, a bit of pepper and a couple of bay leaves and sit the pork hocks on top. Cover and into a 325F degree oven for a couple of hours. The house began to smell wonderful and let me tell you, the meat was tender and delicious. I do not think this photo really does it justice.
There is absolutely nothing at all to be scared of by the "other" cuts of meat. I think that if we are going to eat meat then it would be truly sinful to waste any of it since an animal had to die for us to eat it. Climbing down off soap box now! :)
I believe that part of the problem is when we go to the supermarket we only see the standard cuts of meat. You know, the pork chops, hams, bacon, etc. For some reason we rarely ever see all the other bits and bobs. I have no idea what they do with them. There is the difference when you get your meat directly from the source. This chap who raises the pigs does his own butchering so he makes sure that you are getting ALL of the meat, not just the common bits. After he took such care to raise these animals, it is now my job to do it justice when I cook it. Try getting your meat directly from the source if you have the chance, whether it is pork, poultry or beef.
That is it for me for tonight. Thanks for visiting. Cheers.
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