If you aren't familiar, a ham hock is a cut of pork that comes from the pig's leg, where the shank meets the foot. It's not a very meaty cut, but that's not the point. Ham hocks are heavy on skin, bone, and fatty connective tissue, which are all rich in collagen, which is basically an all-purpose soup enhancer. It affects both texture and the taste of soups, thickening them and adding body,
It can take hours to cook ribs low and slow enough to achieve tenderness that makes the meat just fall off the bone. If you try to hurry the process, you might end up with undercooked ribs. In that scenario, a structural protein in the ribs called collagen would not get hot enough to dissolve, resulting in tough and gristly meat.
"I'm in my 40s and if I shave, I look like I'm in my mid-20s," a Tiktok creator who goes by Shop By Jake claims in one paid promotion. "People ask me all the time, what do you do for your skin? I take collagen," he says.
