Smoked pork hock stew with meatballs | Ragoût de pattes de cochon avec boulettes

Today we're doing a traditional Quebec meal or sidedish for Christmas. However, I do make the recipe my own and smoke the hocks and ditch the grilled flour of the authentic dish.

Smoked pork hock stew with meatballs | Ragoût de pattes de cochon avec boulettes

Raw pork hock
5.94 kg or 13 lbs (10 pieces)

Meatballs
2 lb ground pork
1.5 lbs ground beef (80/20)
½ lb bacon bits, fine, cooked
1 cup onion, minced
2 tbsp garlic, minced
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp grainy mustard of choice
1 egg
3 slices of stale bread, cubed or ripped
½ cup milk

Broth
8 cups water (or broth, especially pork broth)
2 large carrots, rough chop
2 celery stalks, rough chop
2 medium onions, rough chop
4 bay leaves
8 juniper berries
1.5 cups (more or less, depending on the amount of broth) cooked roux (at the end to thicken)

Seasoning (Divided. Just make a shaker of it and use until gone)
9 tbsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt (if using another salt, use half as much)
3 tsp black pepper, ground
3 tsp granulated onion
3 tsp granulated garlic
3 tsp cinnamon, ground
1.5 tsp cloves, ground
1.5 tsp nutmeg, ground
1.5 tsp dry mustard, ground
1.5 tsp dry ginger, ground

Score skin in diamond shape and cover pork hocks with rub.
Smoke at 250°F until internal temp of around 160°F.
Combine bread and milk to make panade.
Mix panade, meatball ingredients, more seasoning, and form into 2 inch meatballs.
Cook meatballs in 450°F oven until internal temp of around 160°F.
Once pork hocks are done, place in large pot with broth ingredients (not the cooked roux, yet), bring to boil and reduce to simmer until an internal temperature of around 205°F or pull-apart tender.
Remove the pork hocks. Remove bones and skin, and shred meat.
Remove everything from pot with strainer, retaining broth. Return broth to pot and bring to simmer.
Return meat to pot and add meatballs. Simmer for several hours until broth reduces and tastes the way you want it to, adjusting seasoning after it’s reduced enough.
Thicken broth with cooked roux to a happy medium between soup and gravy.
Serve a few meatballs, and some hock meat and broth over mashed potatoes.


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