Smoked Ham Hocks
These smoked ham hocks are cooked low & slow in a barbecue, the same way as pulled pork! They're super tender & work great in terrines, pies, soups & more...
Servings: 10 Portions
Equipment
- BBQ/Smoker
- Digital Food Probe
- Spray Bottle
Ingredients
- 3 Ham Hocks (Around 1 kg Each)
Rub & Slather
- 20 g Fine Sea Salt
- 20 g Demerara Sugar
- 10 g Coarse Ground Black Pepper
- 1 tsp Smoked Paprika
- ½ tsp Garlic Granules
- ½ tsp Ground Cumin
- ½ tsp English Mustard Powder
- ¼ tsp Cayenne Pepper
- French's Mustard (To Slather)
To Spritz
- 100 ml Apple Juice
- 100 ml Water
Instructions
- The day before cooking the ham hocks, place them into a large container & cover in cold water. Leave to soak in the fridge overnight then drain well.
Rub
- Place the ham hocks onto a baking tray & pat dry with kitchen paper.
- Add the salt, sugar, black pepper, paprika, garlic granules, cumin & cayenne into a bowl then stir to combine. Set aside for now.
- Next, rub a thin layer of French's mustard (or veg oil) all over the ham hocks then cover completely with the rub. Place the pork back in the fridge & leave to sit for 30 minutes or so, whilst your smoker heats up.
Smoking
- Light your smoker/barbecue & leave to preheat to 250°f/120°c. Make sure that your barbecue is set up for indirect cooking.
- Once up to temperature, place the ham hocks in the barbecue then leave to cook undisturbed for 3 hours. Make sure to maintain a consistent barbecue temperature throughout the whole cook!
- In the meantime, add the apple juice & water into a spray bottle then set aside. We'll be using this to spritz the hocks.
- After 3 hours have passed, continue cooking but spray the pork with the apple juice spritz every 45 minutes, until a decent bark has formed & the internal temperature is at least 165°f/74°c.This will take another 2-4 hours (roughly!).
- Next, lay down a couple of sheets of foil, overlapping them slightly then place a ham hock in the middle. Give the hock a good spritz then wrap up tightly in the foil. Repeat with the remaining ham hocks.
- Return the pork to the smoker (or into an oven) & continue cooking at 250°f/120°c until it is tender & probes like butter. The internal temperature of the pork will be between 195°f-205°f (90°c/96°c) once cooked.If you're cooking in an oven, place the wrapped pork onto a baking tray. Once wrapped, the ham hocks will need anywhere from 2-4 hours of cooking to become tender.
- Let the ham hocks rest (still wrapped in the foil) for at least an hour then shred the meat by hand, discarding the bones & skin (the bones should pull out clean!). Mix the meat with any juices then serve.
Notes
1. Ham Hocks - 3 large ham hocks will yield around 1.25kg of pulled meat. However, this recipe will work with any number of ham hocks, just adjust the amount of rub accordingly. Ham hocks tend to be cured so it's best to soak them in cold water overnight before cooking. Make sure to dry them well before coating in the rub!
2. Smoker/Barbecue – You can use any barbecue to cook pulled pork as long as you can cook indirectly on it. If you’re using a charcoal barbecue, I’d recommend adding in a chunk of wood just before adding in the pork. Cherry or apple wood work really well with pork.
3. Rub – I’ve included the recipe for the rub that I like to use on pork but feel free to use a different one if you’d prefer.
4. Spritz – Spraying the meat helps with bark formation but you don’t have to use apple juice. Cider, beer or cola would be some other good options.
5. Storage - Once cooked, smoked ham hocks will keep for up to 3 days when stored in the fridge. Alternatively, they can be stored in the freezer for several months.