How to make Pork Hock with Ginger and Vinegar
This post is sponsored by the National Pork Board.
Pork hock with ginger and vinegar is a traditional Chinese post-partum recovery dish for women after they give birth. This traditional recovery dish after birth is a dish that I was lucky enough to enjoy regularly growing up. My father is an ob/gyn, so post-partum patients would bring him containers to take home as it’s customary to share this dish with your friends and family (nice to know that they must’ve considered him to be in that category). I used to get so excited when he would bring it home!
This dish is so nostalgic for me. It has a deep sweet vinegar taste with some heat from the ginger. The pork hock slow cooked in the sweet vinegar becomes soft and gelatinous creating this beautiful mix of textures and flavors that make the body feel whole and warm.
Why it is believed to help post-partum recovery:
The ingredients are warming, restorative, and strengthening, which is believed in Chinese culture to improve your Qi (energy) that has an emptiness after birth.
Pork is a quality source of protein packed with vitamins and nutrients to help heal the body.
The collagen in pork hocks can help improve skin, hair, and nails.
Ginger can help improve circulation and boost immune system.
The stew is high in calcium, and vinegar breaks down the calcium in bones.
Eggs can help repair muscles.
Self-care is an important part of overall wellness. It spans physical well-being, mental health and how we fuel our bodies. This pork recovery dish is the perfect way to fuel your body at any stage of life or even help it heal during a time when you may need it the most.
Recipe:
Ask butcher to chop up 2 lbs. of pork hocks into smaller pieces. To clean the pork hocks, rinse with water, pluck any hairs, blanch in boiling water, then drain.
Peel 1 ½ lbs. of ginger, cut into 2-3 inch pieces and lightly bruise with the flat side of a knife.
In a Dutch oven or clay pot (vinegar will damage cast iron or metal), heat 4 tbsp sesame oil and sauté ginger until fragrant and softened (about 5 minutes).
Add 4 cups of Aged Chinese black vinegar.
Add 1 ½ cups of brown sugar (adjust to taste).
Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 min until ginger is soft.
Add pork hocks and 8-10 peeled hardboiled eggs (or more, I like a lot). Add water if needed to cover pork hocks.
Simmer for 2 hours until pork hocks are tender.
For more ways to incorporate pork into a healthy diet and lifestyle, please visit www.pork.org/realpork to learn more.
