Watch How to Cook Well at Christmas with Rory O'Connell Wednesday 21st and Thursday 22nd of December at 6.30pm on RTÉ One.
Ingredients
Serves 4
- 2 ham hocks
- 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
- 1 onion, peeled and cut into quarters
- 1 leek, trimmed, washed and cut into 4cm chunks
- 1 sprig of thyme
- 6 tablespoons Demerara light brown granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons Orange juice
Method
- Place the hocks and vegetables in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer. Cover and simmer gently for c 2 – 2 ½ hours until cooked. The meat should be very tender and about to come away from the bone with a gentle push.
- Remove the hocks from the cooking water. Strain the vegetables from the cooking water and reserve the liquid to use as a mild meat stock suitable for soups.
- Pre-heat oven to 250c
- Cut the excess fat off the hocks but do not remove it all. Score the fat into a diamond pattern and stud the fat with cloves. 12 cloves will be sufficient for each hock. Place the studded hocks on an oven proof dish. It should be a snug fit.
- Blend the sugar and orange juice to make a thickish paste. and pour over the hocks. Place in the heated oven. The sugar will melt and run off the hocks as it heats, so you will need to baste the hocks several times (as much as 6 times) during the cooking. I use a long handled serving spoon for the basting – lifting up the liquid from the bottom of the oven tray and pouring it over the hocks. Gradually the sugar will begin to caramelize and each time you baste the hocks more of the glaze will stick to them. You want a richly caramelised glaze – the colour of a hazelnut.
- Once ready, remove from the oven and keep warm or serve straight away.
