Recipe of the month from David Williams - Head Chef at Alimentum

Gran's Braised Ham Hock

As we now start to embrace autumn I think it’s worth talking about butchery. A good local butcher is now a rare sight, but they are out there; you just have to go hunting. My gran’s butcher always had recipes at hand for all his products, but because of the economic climate and supermarket culture our high streets are starting to lose all the trades; green grocers, fish mongers and butchers.

It’s not enough that a couple are surviving, firstly they need to be good and secondly they need to be supported. A world where every cut of meat is sitting vakpacked in a polystyrene tray is enough to make you want to turn veggie! Real cooking and eating historically has always centred on using as much of the animal as possible. You only have to look at Scotland to appreciate the ingenuity of haggis; every country has the same principles; bath chaps, cassoulet, pot au feu to name a few. At the restaurant we’ve had roast pig’s head on now for nearly 6 months and although it took a while to take off it is now one of our consistent sellers.

Now that the weather is turning that Autumnal grey, we need food that speaks to the soul like braised oxtails, coq au vin, beef stew, goulash, and venison haunches. Search out that great butcher and be prepared to look at cuts of meat you wouldn’t normally buy.

My grandmother who had a dim view of the Michelin-esque style of cooking would wholeheartedly embrace the usage of the lesser known cuts. Anything cooked on the bone benefits from dramatic flavour enhancement. Don’t be put off by the amount of work you think these cuts will warrant, a good braise or stew is unbelievably straight forward and doesn’t require supervision to do its magic.

My gran’s braised ham hock.

Buy 1 smoked and one unsmoked ham hock. Roughly chop 1 carrot, 1 onion and 1 head of celery. Put everything into a pot cover with cold water; add a head of garlic split in two and a couple of sprigs of thyme. Do not season as the hocks are salty already.

Bring to a simmer and cook gently for 3-4 hours until the meat falls easily from the bone. Remove the ham and leave to cool, pass the stock through a sieve into a clean pan, discard the vegetables.

Finely chop two medium sized potatoes and two carrots. Add to the ham stock with a teacup of pearl barley. Simmer gently until the vegetables are tender and the barley is cooked, roughly 45minites to an hour. Do not boil as this will just break the potatoes up resulting in a cloudy soup.

Serve the soup as a starter and the ham as the main course with roast potatoes, green beans and a pot of Dijon mustard.