Hog's Hock

I love the meat section in the grocery store, specifically the marked down section. Others I know wouldn't touch meat that was near its best by date, but I grew up with a deep freeze. The deep freeze means that as long as you observe some basic rules, then you can eat meat that is technically long past its prime. And the rules are easy to follow: buy the meat, bring it home, dump it in the freezer. When you are ready to eat the meat, you thaw it, cook it and enjoy.

I browse the marked down section carefully. I know that I don't like liver but somehow, buying liver for half its price always seems like a good idea. Luckily, it has always stayed an idea and on the shelf.

But the other day, I saw something else. It was cheap, it sounded traditional and I had a faint idea you could make soup with it. It was hog's hock. It was only two dollars. For two dollars I could experiment. I could afford to get it wrong. I scooped it up and put it in my basket. Upon arriving home, I followed the rules and dumped it in the freezer.

My go-to-guide is the Joy of Cooking (JOC). JOC would know what to do with hog's hock. It knows everything. JOC knew that it was good in soup, but so did I. I began to wonder if it was one of those things that everybody knew about but nobody tried. I mean under every other type of pock product, there was a recipe. Under hog's hock, there was a description of what one could do with it but no recipe. Extremely helpful.

I flipped to the Soup section in JOC which unlike the Meat section did know how to cook it. (Do the sections in JOC not talk to one another? ) There were two recipes for pea soup which called for a hog's hock. However, they also called for dried split peas which my kitchen does not carry on a regular basis. You have to pre-order that one if you want to use it. However, I was willing to make the special purchase as I remembered the thick soup-like mixture with pork bits that is served at steam shows, which I love. I would recreate that dish! It would be missing the smoky flavour of being cooked in a large cast iron pot outdoors but it would be fabulous and totally appropriate for winter. I put dried split peas on my mental shopping list.

Today I bought split peas. I didn't know whether the recipe called for green or yellow ones, so I got both. Each bag was less than fifty cents. I was beginning to feel smug. A hearty healthy soup which was going to be dirt-cheap to make. Then I informed my grandmother that I had bought split peas. Her mother used dried split peas. Then my grandmother informed me that she does not like them. And then it hit me. The fabulous soup I remembered was made with white beans. I have no idea what these recipes will produce and whether I will actually want to eat the final product.

I love the reduced meat section in the grocery store.

One day I will resurrect a frost bitten hog's hock from my freezer and throw it out. Probably a few days later, I will discover some dried peas. I'll try and feed them to the birds.

Or one day I will try and feed you a soup. Beware.