Ham hock is having a bit of a moment as a filling for premium sandwiches with piccalilli or shredded into various creative dishes. It really is worth the hype; deeply flavoured soft shreddable meat like ham squared is not to be dismissed lightly. Being the part of the pig that no-one wants it is incredibly cost-effective too. You can slow roast ham hocks either in their incarnation as the final dish or for shredding but why on earth would you pass up the chance for all that lovely ham stock? By boiling up the ham hocks for a few hours in a pan of water with aromatic herbs and sweet root vegetables you get the basis for pea and ham soup or proper mushy peas to serve with pie; and that's just the classics. Toss the shredded meat into soups salads sandwiches or try our ham hock recipes. Shredded ham hock is superb piled on top of eggs Benedict for breakfast.