Salt cure ham hocks

Experimenting with curing ham hocks.

A buddy had given six ham hocks, along with pork chops, to me. Normally, in the Winter, excess meat would be left outside to stay frozen until ready to use or space in a freezer frees up. The unseasonably warm days assured the meat would spoil outside.

I cleaned out a cooler, salted the hocks, placed in the cooler (to keep critters out), and poured more salt over the top.

It’s been about a week and I’ve poured off any liquid twice, so far.

I had forgotten almost everything I’ve learned from the old Farmstead Meatsmith videos but this process may work.

I just took the hocks out today, they are still very squishy so I applied more salt and put them back into the cooler outdoors.

There’s not really a question here. I’m adding this because nothing popped up when I searched “salt cure ham hocks”.

Add any info if you’d like.

How did they turn out?

My wife does that. I'll have to ask her technique. I know she pokes whole cloves in to surface of the meat while it brine soaks.

The meat is much more firm after pouring off the extracted liquid several times and ensuring they had a coating of salt. Hung the meat indoors near the wood stove after rinsing off the salt.

I wish I had hanging meat to decorate my house with. I have unlocked a new goal to work towards. I'm invested in your process now.