Tom Kerridge’s braised Ham Hock with Soy and Star Anise

10 Minutes prep, 5 Hours cook

Serves 6

Ingredients

4kg smoked ham on the bone, French trimmed

3 pints of honey beer (Hiver beer)

2 litres of water

1 litre of dark chicken stock

A head of garlic, peeled

50ml soy sauce

Large piece of ginger sliced

2 tbsp pink peppercorns

100g runny honey

1 bunch of thyme

8 star anise

Method

First score the skin of the ham with a sharp knife make about 8 or so cuts, then lay the ham into a deep roasting tin the pour in the Hiver, stock, soy, thyme and spices over the ham.

Cover with tin foil and bake for 4 hours at 150C/Fan 130C/ Gas 1 until tender, remove the foil and peel away the skin from the fat, you may need to use a sharp knife to help trim it off.

Next drizzle with honey and sprinkle over the pink peppercorns, turn the oven up to 220C/Fan 200/Gas 7 and place the ham back into the oven to colour this will take around 30 minutes give a little baste half way through.

Remove from the oven once the hocks are lovely and golden, remove from the oven and leave to rest for 30 minutes. Remove the ham onto a carving board. Then bring the cooking liquid up to the boil and pass the full flavoured stock through a fine sieve, carve the roasted hock and lay into bowls ladle over the broth and serve with some seasonal winter greens.