pig's feet- does anyone like them?

[barcelonabites]

I'm taking a Catalan cooking class and this week we made pig's feet I really really wanted to like them but I didn't... Does anyone make these at home and if so, how do you prepare them? Also, is it easy to find them in the US?

[chileheadmike]

I have not made them at home but there's a Mexican restaurant in Kansas City KS (El Taco Nazzo) that sells pigs feet tacos. Really, really good. Gelatinous and porky. They serve them on two soft corn tortillas with onion and cilantro, with lime and a firey hot sauce on the side.

[Anna N]

I grew up eating pickled trotters (pigs' feet) and loved them but I have never had them any other way.

[Beebs]

Love 'em! I've only ever cooked them Chinese-style - simmered with soy, sugar, star anise, ginger, shao xing wine. Cooked gently until sticky and soft. With plenty of steamed buns to sop up the sauce. I believe this type of method & sauce is called "red cooked".

I've also eaten them at a Portguese restaurant in a dish I think called "gozidal" (sp?). Simmered with potatoes and other pork parts.

[sheepish]

I too would like to like them, but I find them too glutinous and fatty. Mine go into stocks or brawn to add gelatin.

[Dakki]

We get them pickled or raw here.

Pickled are eaten as-is for a drinkin' snack, raw ones I put into stock or soups (such as bean soup) to add gelatin. I haven't tried pickling them myself.

EDIT: Yes I like them.

I'd try to find them at "ethnic" markets in USA.

Edited June 2, 2010 by Dakki (log)

[budrichard]

Any Supermercado will have them and many Chinese groceries. I pickle although I like pickled hocks better-more meat), I also slow braise in stock, debone for either a French stuffed 'trotter' or a Chinese recipe. They are excellent, but it all depends on your source and your taste, they are somewhat of an acquired taste for some.-Dick

[ethermion]

Many years ago, there were pickled feet and pickled eggs in separate jars a the checkout in 7-11. Reach in, drop a quarter, and be on your way. Never had the guts to try one. Never was *that* hungry.

For stock, they are probably fine, but I do not keep pork stock in stock.

Just two days ago, at Safeway or maybe Giant, feet were in the meat display. Not too hard to find in Virginia. If you look, they are pretty obvious. You see ears too. Just in those regular foam trays wrapped in plastic wrap like all the other meat. Much more common than beef heart.

-e

[djyee100]

It depends on how the pig's feet are prepared. They can be obnoxious if they are all bland fat and pork skin. Also, pork skin is not something that is to everyone's taste. Hard to tell from your pic, but I've been told that the (smaller) front pig's feet are better eating than the (bigger) back pig's feet.

In Thailand we ate braised/roasted pig's feet that had been deboned and stuffed with sausage and salted preserved duck egg. It was served in a ginger, garlic, soy, star anise, and cinnamon sauce. Those pig's feet were not layered in fat. Mostly the pork skin, which was nicely browned, served as a wrapping for the filling. The whole dish tasted very good.

Where I live, pig's feet are readily available in Hispanic and Asian markets.

ETA: I just remembered that we ate those pig's feet in a Yunnan Chinese community living in Thailand. So really, the dish was of Chinese origin, not Thai.

Edited June 3, 2010 by djyee100 (log)

[Mr Pie]

I too would like to like them, but I find them too glutinous and fatty. Mine go into stocks or brawn to add gelatin.

slightly off topic. I was chatting with my grandma yesterday and inevitably the conversation turned to food. In particular, how eating 'old fashioned food' i.e. bread and dripping, brawn etc is not bad for you because she is 90 and still going strong (you get the picture). Anyway, she kept referring to brawn as pork cheese, have you heard it called this before?

[crinoidgirl]

Another vote for "grew up eating them pickled, have never had them any other way".

Think I would like to try them, though.

[ChefCrash]

As good as peasant food gets.

Simmer in:

Water

Salt

Pepper corns

Cinnamon stick

2 Bay leaves

3 Cloves (optional)

1 quartered onion

When tender, drain, cool, chop into smaller pieces or pick the meat.

Make a sauce with:

1/4 C lemon juice

1/4 C olive oil

1 garlic clove smashed or finely minced

Salt

Mix well

Pour over meat and enjoy with Pita bread.

Edited June 3, 2010 by ChefCrash (log)

[MikeHartnett]

Anyway, she kept referring to brawn as pork cheese, have you heard it called this before?

"Head cheese"

[Dakki]

Isn't head cheese made with the head though?

The end result should be similar, anyway.

[heidih]

My European Jewish stepmother, raised in Vienna and regions of Belgium and France does them as "sulz"= a vinegary & gelatinous setting for the shredded meat & chewiness. Similar to head cheese but much less refined.

[Hest88]

I love pig's feet when they're braised enough so the meat practically falls off the bone and the skin melts in your mouth. My favorite is the Chinese ginger and black vinegar (traditionally made for new mothers), of course, but I also like the kind I see in Taiwanese joints--savory instead of sweet.

[PaulDWeiss]

I had them for breakfast today, in a bowl of pozole; I never met a pig foot I didn't like. My favorite recipe, however, is one from the Périgord, which bones them out, stuffs them with a forcemeat of pork and foie gras, and roasts them. I've tried it, without a recipe, and without much success; mine come out too gluey, even though they're being roasted dry, rather than braised or poached. (Boning them out is also a miserable job; there have to be some tricks which I'm not finding.) The best version I've ever had is served at Au Pied de Cochon (duhhhhh), on Rue Coquillière in Paris, right near the Bourse de Commerce, and down the street from the famous E. Dehillerin, purveyors of "matériel de cuisine." Last time I had them there, the waiter told me how many portions of pig foot were served each week - I'd be lying if I gave you a number, but it was jaw-droppingly huge.

There's another version of the recipe which poaches the foot first (I think), then bones it out and stuffs it, and then finally it's breaded and fried, which is also delicious.

If anyone has any pointers on this dish, or any similar recipe of a boned out, stuffed, and roasted foot, I'd love to get them. I'd love to figure out how to bone out the foot with less destruction of the skin, and how to get my texture better.

Edited June 14, 2010 by PaulDWeiss (log)

[djyee100]

If anyone has any pointers on this dish, or any similar recipe of a boned out, stuffed, and roasted foot, I'd love to get them.

If you have a chance, check out Gratin of Pig's Foot with Vin Jaune and Comte Cheese in Paula Wolfert's Mediterranean Clay Pot Cooking. I haven't tried the recipe myself, but someone recommended it to me. In that recipe the pig's feet are cooked in a stock for a couple hrs, then deboned when they are still hot but cool enough to handle.

[Indirect Heat]

I love me some pig's feet. A truly awesome appetizer. Yum.