Smoked my own ham hocks

[Monty House]

We have a nitrate allergy in the house, so when I want to make a soup or bean pot, I'm hitting up places like Whole Foods for the non-nitrate versions--last time was $8.99 lb ($14.70 for a single, smoked hock). I know a wholesaler meat distributor that has sold me Wagyu prime briskets in the past as a retail walk-up customer. I called and they have 30 lb. cases (Swift brand) of plain frozen ham hocks--$1.70/lb. I got a case and split it with a buddy. For $25.50, I got 7 big hocks. I brined them using the Ruhlman "Charcuterie" recipe--four days (he says three, but he was assuming closer to 1 lb. each--mine were 2 lbs each on average).

Set up my 18.5" WSM to run at 175-200. Applewood for smoke. Some were 150 internal at 3 hours, the others closer to 4:00.

Got some 15 Bean Mix at my friendly Cash & Carry. My wife suggested adding some beef broth concentrate base, spinach, smoked paprika (she said it needed "a kick") and a splash of sherry. It was just delicious. The hocks were smoky, and I could have had them be a little saltier. Not sure if that's because of the lack of pink salt. They were tender and had good color. I think I might augment Ruhlman's brine with some brown sugar next time, as I like that hint of sweetness. All-in-all, a fun, tasty (& economical) experiment.

In the brine (before the plates for weighting were added)



Drying post-brine



In the WSM



Out of the WSM



In the soup--yummy!

 

[Anne M.]

Hi Monty,
They are looking good!
Just make sure that you don't smoke at too low a temperature. 175 oF is still fine, but don't get tempted to go much lower as you have no nitrites to protect you.

The saltiness is probably just personal taste.
The amount you add with the cure is quite low. But you could roughly take the amount of cure and replace it with salt (after all, 94% of the cure is salt).

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Looks great!

 

[ChuckO]

I think I might augment Ruhlman's brine with some brown sugar next time, as I like that hint of sweetness

I love Ham Hocks & Beans. The idea of pre-smoking them is pure genius. That's a good idea on the brine. Excellently done Monty

 

[Cliff Bartlett]

Man, that sounds and look delicious Monty.

 

[Robert-R]

Super!!! Nothing like doing it yourself. 15 bean soup is so good. Yours look great.