clearblue

My tried and true trotters recipe is plain ol' "Menudo". In a crockpot, put the feet covered with water, a couple of cans of Bush's Hominey/with juice, some salt and black pepper,and cook until the meat falls off the bones. Spoon into a soup bowl --top with diced fresh onion,cilantro,and japaleno peppers. Get some white corn tortillas and enjoy.

I found a complete hogs head at a local meat market a couple of days ago. The head was frozen and weighed about 15 pounds and cost $5.00. I was able to get the butcher to saw the head into about halves but he would not saw near the teeth area as that would damage his saw. I used a hatchet to further divide the head and after removing the brains and the eyes I put what I could get into two crockpots along with a large piece of beef tongue and beef cheekmeat ,added water to cover, plenty of salt and black pepper and cooked until the meat fell from the bones. I then cleaned off all the meat from the bones and removed all bits of bone or teeth that might have come off into the pot. Using a blender ,I pulse ground the meat skin an all into a fine soup/sausage/scrapple like consistency and returned it to the crockpots along with all the liquid. I added enough fine ground Anson Mills cornmeal to thicken and cooked for another hour. When done I placed it in plastic storage containers and froze what I was not planning to use . It can be thawed and eaten with crackers or heated and placed over steamed white corn tortillas with a sauce made from fresh tomatoes,cilantro,onion,garlic,lime/lemon juice,tomatillos,and japaleno pepper. It's also great heated and placed over hot toast or bread and topped with a couple of eggs over easy. I did not use any vinegar this time but about 1/2 cup of apple cider vinegar and be added for the final cooking if you favor the taste of vinegar. Note to Moderator: You might want to move this into another thread as it is not really a chinese preparation of style---It's more of a Jamaican/Mexican/South Georgian back country style of cooking. Thanks

I have found lots of information on sharpening most kinds of knives from kukris to goloks to plain ol' butcher's at this site: http://www.bladeforums.com/

quote Franci If you are interested, also this farm sells leaf lard: http://www.flyingpigsfarm.com/ Thanks fot the flyingpigs link---- I'll place my next order with them and compare their leaf lard to Dietrich's. SideNote: I received the beef fat I had ordered a couple days ago and decided to try the crockpot for rendering. The crockpot ,I'm elated to say, worked perfectly. There's now 2 quarts of beautiful suet in the fridge and a package of beef cracklins in the freezer. For anyone wanting to try the crockpot I simply cut the beef fat into 1/2 inch pieces and filled the pot 2/3's full. Put the temp on the pot at high until it got hot then reduced it to low and let it render overnight. I strained the suet through an extremely fine mesh tea strainer into wide mouth quart and pint sized mason jars and let it cool-- then into the fridge. The crockpot made what used to be a real job into a breeze- no more having to render using a wood fire and a 30 gallon cast iron washing pot out in the yard while freezing in the cold winter morning air. Life is good!

How much do they charge for it, and will they ship it? I've been looking for leaf lard forever... ← I don't remember the cost and couldn't locate a receipt but I too had searched extensively. If you'll call Dietrich's at (610-756-6344) they were more than accomodating in assisting me in putting together my first order. They do ship and it was packaged well. The leaf lard comes in 1# clear plastic containers and will last a long time if frozen or refrigerated. I believe you'll be so surprised at the quality and the delicous taste. It took me back to the winter hog killing and the cracklins and chitlins that my mother prepared. This thread reminded me to call a local custom butcher shop.Hopefully tomorrow I'll have 5 pounds of fresh (beef kidney fat) to render into suet.

After much searching I was able to find a place that processes and sells top quality "leaf Lard". See: http://www.mountainfolk.com/dietrich.asp I usually order (5) one pound containers and keep one on the countertop and the remaining in the fridge. It makes unbelievable old fashioned biscuits and cornbread. I particularly enjoy their plain country smoked sausage. They took my personal check and the transaction was completed with no problems at all. I also really enjoy the pure 100% virgin coconut oil that you can get from " Tropical Traditions."