winter holidays ham hock

• 12 hours before, rinse your ham hocks and place in 1,5 litres of cold water with 6 tbsp of white vinegar (1 tbsp vinegar per 1 cup of cold water), cover and place in refrigerator or cool space
• prepare the dry baste mix by crushing (and/or grinding/grating) the dry spices, dry out the grated orange zest in the oven on a baking sheet covered with baking paper for 5 minutes at 180°C, add all the spice powders, dried herbs and zests, garlic and onion powders together, mix everything in a food-processor and finally empty into a bowl and add the sugar, mix well, cover and set aside (do not add olive oil)
• after 12 hours, remove ham hocks from water, empty salty water in a large casserole and save it (do not throw it away) and pat ham hocks dry
• score the skin with a sharp knife in a diagonal pattern, baste with 2 tbsp olive oil and apply 6 tbsp of dry spice mix, working it well into the skin and meat, then wrap with cling film and store in the refrigerator (for several hours) and remove and let sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour before ready to roast
• for the vegetables, cut off the tough ends of the brussels sprouts, wash potatoes (keep the skin on) and peel pearl onions
• bring the 1,5 litres of salty water (from ham hocks) to a boil, skim off froth and add potatoes and boil for 2-3 minutes, then add the brussels sprouts and continue to boil everything together for another 2-3 minutes
• remove from heat, drain the potatoes and brussels sprouts and plunge in ice water immediately
• in a large roasting pan, toss the brussels sprouts, baby potatoes and the (un-boiled)  pearl onions with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, honey and dry spice mix, add ½ tbsp sea salt, whole bay leaves and thyme sprigs and cover and set aside
• preheat oven to 230°C, wrap each ham hock tightly in several sheets of aluminum foil and place (without a pan) on the lower-middle rack and bake for 30 minutes at very high heat, then lower the temperature to 145°C for and bake for 3 more hours, then remove from oven and keep tightly wrapped

note 1 : you can vary the cooking time according to your schedule, always begin with the first 30 minutes at highest heat, then according to the size of the ham hocks and the time you have available, you can increase the heat for a faster result or decrease the heat for a slower and extremely tender end result; here are examples for this recipe : 6 hours at 90°C-100°C, 3 hours at 140°C-150°C, 1 ½ hours at 175°C-180°C

note 2 : I used a meat thermometer and this is what I recorded : the first 30 minutes at 230°C raised the inner temperature of the meat to 65°C, the following 3 hours at 145°C raised the inner meat temperature to 105°C (thus officially cooked) and very tender ! a meat thermometer is a good thing to have …

• after removing the ham hocks from oven, gently open up one end of the aluminum foil and pour ham hock juices into the roasting pan containing the vegetables and reseal ham hocks with more aluminum foil and set aside on the counter (they will stay warm)
• increase oven heat to 200°C and roast the vegetables for 60 minutes (stirring every 20 minutes)
• remove vegetable roasting dish from the oven and increase oven heat to 230°C on broil and collect ¼ cup of roasted vegetable juices and mix with extra 2 tbsp of olive oil (and 1 tbsp extra brown sugar, if you like) to re-baste the ham hocks
• carefully unwrap ham hocks, place on a rack over the vegetable roasting dish (or without a rack directly on the vegetables), pour roasting juices and olive oil (and sugar) mix on ham hocks and broil each side for 6-8 minutes until the skin is well-browned and crispier (be careful not to burn, my oven rack was in the middle, not the top)
• remove from oven, let cool slightly, pull the meat off the bone and serve with the vegetables.

note 3 : if you have leftovers, the pulled pork meat is wonderful in a toasted or grilled sandwich !