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Believe it or not, this Southern gal has never had ham hocks before. They do not look very appetizing but then again neither does chipped beef on toast which is very yummy. So I went into this with an open mind prepared to have all that pork flavor infused into the lentils and vegetables, and the discarded ugly outside would be irrelevant.
Alas, it did not turn out to be as good as I hoped it would be. The hocks did not have a good smoky aroma like bacon or ham usually does. Instead, they had a rather gamey smell and taste that pretty much torpedoed the dish. On reflection it may be that I used the wrong preparation of hock – the only thing in the store was labeled “pork hocks” not “ham hocks”. However, as you can see in the photo this was NOT a fresh hock, it was definitely cured. It just does not appear to have been cured the “right” way if you are expecting a good ham-like flavor.
Bottom line – make sure your hock was smoked to get the flavor right.
