Pig feet

P

philamac

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304
Pig's Trotters..............

Saw them for the first time in a butcher down the street. I really want to try them but have not a clue how to prepare and cook them. At £1 for 5 these are too good to miss.

Any tips, recipes or experience out there?

Thanks!
 
I just cooked them up in stock, removed the usable meat and used the gelatin when I made some pies over Xmas, there are quite a lot of bones and cartilage to negotiate.

Cheese Dave is your man for making a silk purse.

I prefer tails, if you can get them and be bothered with all the prep.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_KnxYbuHVQ&NR=1[/youtube]
 
Brawn used to be a regular item when I was a kid. Not something I recall with great affection (unlike stuffed hearts :hungrig ), but chances are I'd enjoy it now. There isn't a recipe, just a method, such as this:
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://hubpages.com/hub/Homemade-Brawn" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://hubpages.com/hub/Homemade-Brawn</a><!-- m -->
 
philamac said:
Pig's Trotters..............

Saw them for the first time in a butcher down the street. I really want to try them but have not a clue how to prepare and cook them. At £1 for 5 these are too good to miss.

Any tips, recipes or experience out there?

Thanks!
Click to expand...


Sorry. Even at 5 for £1 I have to give this a miss.
 
I'm probably with Tony on this in that I've mainly used them to jellify stocks; drop a trotter or two into a stock and you can pretty much guarantee that, after a couple of hours simmering, when it cools it will solidify. Great for authentic homemade pork pies.

They take long, slow cooking, whether it's braising or roasting. You're looking at 2-3 hours. They don't have much meat on them, and they do contain lots of bones and tendons. I'm not selling them very well here, am I?

When I was cooking up Gary Rhodes' trotter recipe from his New British Classics book, I did some research into other trotter recipes. One of the main methods of cooking them seems to be to cook them and then stuff them with something. The Oirish call them "crubeens".

Whatever you do, they're elemental things. You have to singe the hairs off them (you can shave the hairs if you want - it's what we're good at on this site) and then soak them in cold water or brine for 24 hours before you even start cooking.

When braised the skin is a kind of unctuous toffee texture. I've not tried them roasted, I guess you can do the crackling thing with them if you get it right.

Here's my pig trotter thread:

http://theshavingroom.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=5627&p=76879&hilit=trotter#p76879
 
Likewise, I've only ever used them for stocks and the like. I made a set oxtail terrine from HFW's Meat book last year, chucking a few trotters in really helped the end result I think.

I like trying different cuts, but once past the obvious like pigs cheeks and oxtail, I'm not really sure to do with the rest.

I've just picked up this from Amazon marketplace, so it should give me a few ideas.

41C8582D3AL._SL500_AA300_.jpg


http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fifth-Quart...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1298019672&sr=1-1

Has anybody got any of Fergus Henderson's cookbooks? I might pick Nose to Tail Eating up next.
 
I bought "Nose to Tail" after eating at St Johns a few times.

Recipe ingredients could be a little difficult to source unless you have a very very good butcher or live close to a meat market. Tongues, feet, brains, bone marrow etc.

Still an excellent read, great stories and recipes from a very very decent fella.
 
cheese_dave said:
Get to know your butcher.
Click to expand...
+1 Our butcher has stuff hidden away behind the scenes which you'd never guess was there unless you got a conversation going. Just why he chooses to hide the game away I haven't a clue, but if you want a brace of partridge you have to ask. Time was when every butcher had something interesting with feathers or fur on in the window, but now all you see is pork pies and mince.
 
thanks for all the advice so far chaps. i hoped the trotters would be a slightly gelatinous, chewyand full of flavour treat, like the delicious chicken feet i have eaten many times in a fsvourite chinese restaurant. a friend suggezted a slow cooked casserole stylee thing, using good cider.

but i don't think the ones i have need shaved. if they do it will be gft coconut cream......
 
"Waiter, waiter! There's a hair in my soup!!"

"Yes it's meant to be there, sir. Here it is our philosophy to use the whole of the beast. It seems to be common sense and even polite to the animal to use as much of it as possible. Sorry that's not funny, but I do walk like I've got frog's legs, perhaps we could make a joke about that?"

:?

or

"Waiter, waiter! There's a fly in my soup!!"

"Yes, that's because you ordered fly soup. Here it is our philosophy that every animal or insect that can be should be eaten. Again, not very funny, but fly soup wasn't actually on the menu so by loudly drawing the whole dining room's attention towards it it's certainly possible that everyone will want one. There, I've done it. Ho ho ho!!"

"Chortle chortle"

:shock:
 
Nice one Andy! :D

Just to put the record straight, I'm all for using everything that can be eaten. I don't hold with Gillian McKeith telling people about all the 'disgusting' things that go in to their sausages. If it's edible why not eat it? The only problem is that I just don't think I could stomach some of these items. Offal does not appeal. I was put off kidney and liver at school. Chickens feet? I have chickens and I don't think I'd eat their feet. But, if some brave souls enjoy it then it's better for the animals and the planet, so good for them!
 
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