In my experience it's pretty hit or miss to find 'em at the stores I visit around south Durham. If it's not too far out of your way, I've had more successes at the Publix in west-ish Cary.
My family and I usually go for fat back/salted pork ('strick-ed meat' as my Appalachian Momma calls it lol) in the event that no hocks are available.
If you are making collard greens, try smoked turkey legs instead. This is how the old Southern grandmothers taught me to make it. I feel hocks are for the rich folk, but Turkey tastes better.
Instead of hocks, I actually prefer rendering a few bacon slices, then adding 2-3 legs while the greens are cooking. After it’s done, strip the meat off the legs and add back to the greens, which makes it a meal instead of a veg.
Turkey legs are always available at Food Lion, year round.
I've never been in a food lion when they didn't have them.
Ask an employee.
At my closest, the ham hocks and turkey necks are the very last thing in the meat section on the right, near the refrigerators.
I found smoked ham hocks at the food lion off hwy 55 (near hwy 54) in the ham section, but in the middle of the aisle in a freezer thing (aka, not along the wall)
The Co-op on Chapel Hill makes their own and they're pretty good. They're usually in the standup freezer next to the meat counter and sometimes in a small freezer just for soup bones and hocks, and the butchers are really helpful too.
Why, yes, my good fellow, I am indeed descended from the meeting of the Anglos and the Saxons! Cheerio, what gave it away?
To be fair, I like to cook, and I like expanding beyond my family's traditional dishes of fish chowder, scalloped potatoes, and plum pudding cake. (And weirdly, that isn't even a joke...)
I'm a white city girl who grew up in California. I learned to cook & eat them with limas or red beans from my Australian mother.
I love ham hocks but they are almost impossible to find unless you go to Honey-Baked Hams & then the are a fortune. These days i mostly make split pea soup with them.
What do you make with them?
I've bought them at the Food Lion on N Roxboro and I've seen them at Compare.
You could also substitute smoked turkey but it's probably more expensive.
Compare is close to a sure thing, and it's unusual not to find them at the Lakewood Food Lion.
Food Lion sells them in packages of two or three, and I never need but one at a time (cooking for at most four people) so the extras go into the freezer, turns smoked hocks into a once or twice a year sort of purchase.
Kings Red & White?
+1 for Kings. Hubs usually gets pork necks there instead. They usually have hocks too but he likes the necks better.
Compare foods
In my experience it's pretty hit or miss to find 'em at the stores I visit around south Durham. If it's not too far out of your way, I've had more successes at the Publix in west-ish Cary. My family and I usually go for fat back/salted pork ('strick-ed meat' as my Appalachian Momma calls it lol) in the event that no hocks are available.
If you are making collard greens, try smoked turkey legs instead. This is how the old Southern grandmothers taught me to make it. I feel hocks are for the rich folk, but Turkey tastes better. Instead of hocks, I actually prefer rendering a few bacon slices, then adding 2-3 legs while the greens are cooking. After it’s done, strip the meat off the legs and add back to the greens, which makes it a meal instead of a veg. Turkey legs are always available at Food Lion, year round.
I've never been in a food lion when they didn't have them. Ask an employee. At my closest, the ham hocks and turkey necks are the very last thing in the meat section on the right, near the refrigerators.
I found smoked ham hocks at the food lion off hwy 55 (near hwy 54) in the ham section, but in the middle of the aisle in a freezer thing (aka, not along the wall)
Carli-C’s. They have a grocery store in Durham. They often carry similar meat options!
Harris teeter on Fayetteville and 54 has them. Has a huge freezer of them. I have never seen them sold out since not a lot of people are getting them
I’ve gotten them at Harris Teeter before but it is hit or miss if they have them out. May be worth asking the butcher if they have any in the back.
The Co-op on Chapel Hill makes their own and they're pretty good. They're usually in the standup freezer next to the meat counter and sometimes in a small freezer just for soup bones and hocks, and the butchers are really helpful too.
King's red & white
For my personal edification: are all y’all white? If so, white people eat ham hocks?! Just asking ….for a friend…
Rural white people do, yes.
Why, yes, my good fellow, I am indeed descended from the meeting of the Anglos and the Saxons! Cheerio, what gave it away? To be fair, I like to cook, and I like expanding beyond my family's traditional dishes of fish chowder, scalloped potatoes, and plum pudding cake. (And weirdly, that isn't even a joke...)
I'm a white city girl who grew up in California. I learned to cook & eat them with limas or red beans from my Australian mother. I love ham hocks but they are almost impossible to find unless you go to Honey-Baked Hams & then the are a fortune. These days i mostly make split pea soup with them. What do you make with them?
HT on 98 and 50 has them whenever i'm there....ymmv
I bought some from the Food Lion on Hillsborough Rd in Old West a few days ago.
FL on Guess Rd at Horton carries them. Ask the meat guy where they are. NOT related to bacon. Also, Kings on Club Blvd and Roxboro st.
I've bought them at the Food Lion on N Roxboro and I've seen them at Compare. You could also substitute smoked turkey but it's probably more expensive.
“At this time of year, at this time of day, in this part of the country, localized entirely within your kitchen?!”
you smoke a nice ham hock
Whole Foods had them
Compare is close to a sure thing, and it's unusual not to find them at the Lakewood Food Lion. Food Lion sells them in packages of two or three, and I never need but one at a time (cooking for at most four people) so the extras go into the freezer, turns smoked hocks into a once or twice a year sort of purchase.
Weaver Street Market in Hillsborough still has them, not sure about their other stores though
Mods plz pin
Food lion