I got a dozen hocks this weekend and had 'em cut in half. Suddenly I have two HUGE bags of BIG fresh hocks. The guys said it as a full box and he just went ahead and half's 'em all for me. Gonna be passing out hocks all year...LOL
Sooooooo I gathered up my professional curing equipment and the spices.
Yeppers Pop's brine cure. We all love it. My variation of course.
1/2 C canner's salt
1 C Brown Sugar
1 C Refined Sugar
1 Gal. Creek Water
1 Tbsp. #1 Cure
Maple Extract
(I heat a qt of water to a boil, add sugar, sugar, salt and disolve.)
Pour into the special 1 gallon chicken brining Pitcher. You have not seen one? It holds a fryer in a brine and the lid pushes the legs down to insure it stays covered in the brine.
Add about a quart of ice to cool it down. Then I add a big tablespoon of cure and a healthy pour of maple extract! Always after its been cooled down.Fill it to the line with cold water, A perfect brine cure.
Into the factory engineered brine vessel. You know its good you see that John Deere emblem?
Strangely the frozen hocks were in a plastic bag that would just slip down in the bucket and fit as good as socks on a rooster. Not being one to waste a good bucket of brine. I decided to add 1/2 again more cure to insure good coverage. Then I had too much and not being one to waste space thought about what I could cure.
So check these out, I decided to try some sausages with more meat and less fat. These are the pieces of fat cap. They look more like bacon that all that belly I have in the freezer. So I'll give 'em a try, Hmmmm.... .89/lb butt cap vs. 3.97/lb for sow belly.... If nothing else it'll make fine trim!
Get it all in and the plastic bag of H2O on top and off to the Beer reefer for a while.
I'll be back when its ready for the next step.
PS Don't forget I have another bag of split hocks that same size to do now also.
Sooooooo I gathered up my professional curing equipment and the spices.
Yeppers Pop's brine cure. We all love it. My variation of course.
1/2 C canner's salt
1 C Brown Sugar
1 C Refined Sugar
1 Gal. Creek Water
1 Tbsp. #1 Cure
Maple Extract
(I heat a qt of water to a boil, add sugar, sugar, salt and disolve.)
Pour into the special 1 gallon chicken brining Pitcher. You have not seen one? It holds a fryer in a brine and the lid pushes the legs down to insure it stays covered in the brine.
Add about a quart of ice to cool it down. Then I add a big tablespoon of cure and a healthy pour of maple extract! Always after its been cooled down.Fill it to the line with cold water, A perfect brine cure.
Into the factory engineered brine vessel. You know its good you see that John Deere emblem?
Strangely the frozen hocks were in a plastic bag that would just slip down in the bucket and fit as good as socks on a rooster. Not being one to waste a good bucket of brine. I decided to add 1/2 again more cure to insure good coverage. Then I had too much and not being one to waste space thought about what I could cure.
So check these out, I decided to try some sausages with more meat and less fat. These are the pieces of fat cap. They look more like bacon that all that belly I have in the freezer. So I'll give 'em a try, Hmmmm.... .89/lb butt cap vs. 3.97/lb for sow belly.... If nothing else it'll make fine trim!
Get it all in and the plastic bag of H2O on top and off to the Beer reefer for a while.
I'll be back when its ready for the next step.
PS Don't forget I have another bag of split hocks that same size to do now also.
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