Smoked Ham Hock Cassoulet Recipes

CASSOULET

Steps:

• Bundle parsley, bay leaf, rosemary, thyme, celery, and leek to form a bouquet garni, wrapping kitchen twine around the aromatics several times to secure -- which ensures easy retrieval of the ingredients after they've infused the cooking liquid with flavor.
• Warm oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add fatback or pork belly, and cook until it is golden on all sides and has begun to render its fat, about 5 minutes. Add pork shoulder, and cook until golden on all sides, about 8 minutes total.
• Stick clove in half the onion, and add to pot along with bouquet garni, ham hock, carrot, tomatoes and juice, and beans. Add enough cold water to cover by 1 to 2 inches (about 8 cups). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer gently until beans are tender throughout but not falling apart, 40 to 50 minutes.
• Remove pot from heat. Discard carrot, onion, and bouquet garni. Transfer ham hock to a cutting board, reserving liquid, and let cool slightly. Trim meat and gelatin from the bone, dicing and returning them to the pot. Discard the bone.
• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Rub cut side of garlic clove over the entire inner surface of a small (5-quart) Dutch oven or other ovenproof vessel. This allows a subtle though distinct garlic flavor to infuse the resulting cassoulet.
• Using a wire skimmer or a slotted spoon, place half the bean mixture in the Dutch oven, spreading it evenly. Leave the cooking liquid in the pot.
• Arrange the duck confit and sausage on top of the beans in the Dutch oven to create a single, snug layer. Spoon the remaining beans over the meat, reserving the cooking liquid.
• Add enough cooking liquid so the beans are almost, but not quite, submerged. Reserve the remaining liquid. Transfer pot to oven and cook, uncovered, for 2 hours. Check the liquid every 30 minutes to make sure it is no more than 1/2 inch below the beans, and add liquid or water as necessary. Do not stir.
• After the cassoulet has cooked for 2 hours, toss bread and butter in a bowl. Sprinkle over cassoulet, and return to oven until beans are tender and bread is golden, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Before serving, let cassoulet stand at room temperature for 20 minutes to cool and to allow the beans to absorb some of the liquid. You can refrigerate cassoulet in an airtight container for up to 3 days; rewarm in an oven heated to 300 degrees.

CROCK POT CASSOULET

Steps:

• FOR THE CASSOULET: In slow cooker stoneware, combine ham hock and beans.
• In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, carrots and celery and cook, stirring, until softened. Add rosemary and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Transfer mixture to slow cooker stoneware. Add chicken stock to cover beans. Cover and cook on LOW for 10 to 12 hours, until beans are tender. It would be better to do this the night before.
• In a bowl, combine salt, garlic, peppercorns and thyme. Rub mixture into pork. Place pork in a bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350°F On a plate, combine cinnamon, allspice and cloves. Roll lamb shanks in mixture and place, narrow end up, on a broiling pan. Scrape excess salt from the marinated pork shoulder and place on same broiling pan. Roast in preheated oven for 1 hour.
• Remove Ham hock from beans. Remove tough skin and shred meat. Discard skin and bone. Cover and refrigerate meat. Stir tomato paste and bay leaves into bean mixture.
• Cut roasted pork into 1 inch squares and add along with lamb shanks to bean mixture. Stir to combine. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours or on HIGH for 4 hours. Remove lamb shanks from mixture and scrape meat from bones. Discard bones and return meat to beans. Stir in kielbasa and reserved meat from ham hock. (See Tips) Transfer mixture to baking dishes, if necessary.
• BREAD CRUMB TOPPING: Preheat oven to 350°F In a bowl, combine ingredients. Sprinkle over cassoulet and bake, uncovered, for 1 hour.
• TIPS: Using the slow cooker to make cassoulet makes it a manageable project. Cook the beans and marinate the pork overnight. The next morning, continue cooking as directed.
• This is a large quantity of cassoulet, and when the sausage and ham meat is added, it may not fit comfortably in the slow cooker stoneware. I have a gargantuan baking dish, Mexican in origin, that I use for the final assembly You may need to transfer the bean mixture to two large baking dishes before adding the bread crumb topping. If you are serving this as a dinner dish and have enough pottery, consider spooning the cassoulet into individual serving size ovenproof tureens. Add the topping and bake as directed.
• MAKE AHEAD: This dish can be partially prepared the night before it is cooked. Complete Steps 1 and 3, cooking beans overnight. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The next morning, continue cooking as directed. Serves 12.
• Delicious & Dependable Slow Cooker Recipes.

SMOKED HAM HOCK CASSOULET

Steps:

• Place the beans and the water in a large pot, bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover partly and simmer until tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Drain and set aside. Heat the oil in a large, wide ovenproof pot over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and onions and saute until golden, about 7 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Stir in the tomatoes, thyme, salt and pepper and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in the beans, sage and wine. Add the ham hock bones, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Remove the bones from the pan and stir in the meat. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top and dot with butter. Bake for 15 minutes. Divide among 6 plates and serve.

SMOKED VENISON HAM HOCKS

Steps:

• This recipe makes enough brine to cover 2 shanks (with the heel attached) from a deer. If using elk, you will need to double or maybe even triple the brine. Use a saw and cut the shank into thirds. It's easiest to do this if they're partially frozen.
• Bring 2 cups of water, salt, and sugar to a boil. Stir until salt dissolves then remove from heat. Pour in the remaining 6 cups of ice water and stir to blend. Allow brine to cool completely before submerging the hocks.
• Brine for 6 to 8 hours for deer and hog, or 8 to 10 hours for elk.
• Remove hocks from brine and rinse. Pat dry and allow to air dry in the fridge for 2 to 12 hours.
• Prepare your smoker according to manufacturer's instructions using your choice of wood. I like hickory or maple for venison and hog. Set the temperature to about 200 degrees.
• Smoke the hocks for 4 hours and then remove. Shanks take a very long time to break down and tenderize. The objective here is to infuse it with smoke and to dehydrate the meat. It will not be tender enough to consume at this point. If you try to smoke until the meat is tender, it will end up very dry.
• You can immediately cook with them by adding one or two hocks to your favorite crockpot soup recipe set on low. Keep in mind that these smoked hocks are salty and flavorful-a little goes a long way. Another good option is to pressure cook until tender, shred the meat and add it to sautéed green beans, cassoulet, or a breakfast hash. The hocks will keep in the fridge stored for a week, or you can freeze them in portions to cook with later.

FRENCH CASSOULET

Steps:

• Rinse beans thoroughly.Place ham hocks in a large pot. Add 1 onion, thyme, and salt and pepper. Cover with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, for 2 hours. Remove from heat, allow to cool for 15 minutes, then drain ham hocks, discarding onion and thyme. Cut meat from each hock into 2 pieces. Discard bones and set meat aside. Meanwhile, place pork rind, ham bone, and 1 onion in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until pork rind is rendered, about 20 minutes. Add beans and enough water to cover by 1⁄2" (about 8 cups) and season with salt. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low and cook until beans are tender, about 45 minutes. Adjust salt, if necessary, then set beans aside to cool. Heat duck fat in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sausages and cook, turning to brown on all sides, for about 10 minutes. Place garlic, remaining onion, and 1⁄2 cup water in a blender and purée until smooth. Add garlic paste to sausages and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook, turning sausages occasionally, for 10 minutes more. Preheat oven to 350°.Remove and discard ham bone and onion from beans (it is okay if some pieces of onion remain). Using a slotted spoon, transfer about half the beans with pork rind to a heavy wide-mouthed 5-6 qt. cast-iron, clay, or earthenware pot, about 4" high. Assemble cassoulet in layers: Place the meat from the ham hocks on top of the beans and cover with sausages and garlic paste. Divide duck into 8 pieces by separating drumsticks from thighs and, if using a whole duck, splitting breasts in half crosswise through the bone. Arrange duck on sausages, then spoon in remaining beans with pork rind. Season with nutmeg and add just enough reserved bean cooking liquid to cover the beans (about 3 cups). Reserve remaining liquid. Bake, uncovered 1 hr. Reduce heat to 250° and cook for 3 hours, checking every hour or so.

HAM & BEAN CASSOULET

Steps:

• Saute the onions until soft and translucent. Remove the rind from the block of smoked bacon and cut into 1cm cubes. I cant tell you how much to use, as all smoked bacon has different strengths so use your judgement. You dont want the bacon to overpower the beans or flavour of the soup. Fryoff the bacon so that it is lightly coloured. Drain the beans, reserving the juice. In a stock pot, combine the ingredients and cover with the hot chicken stock. You could make your own or use a good shop bought one. Failing that, a good reserve is Knorr stock cubes or Knorr liquid stock made up with hot water. You need less salt if using these though. If you want it as a soup, add more stock. As casulet or stew needs less. Simmer for 20 mins or so on the hob. Taste for seasoning as you go along. Serve with a nice rustic, crusty loaf. Keeps well in the fridge and tastes better the next day.