Not far from the snout lie my favourite porcine treats.
I remember well, the first time I ate my favourites, not knowing what they were. It was at an early lunch on a cold March 8th, 1996 in western Hunan. I was in a restaurant with a bunch of people I’d never met before, in a place I’d never been before and on the table in front of me were a couple of appetisers I’d never seen before, including a plate of what looked like cast-off bacon rinds covered in a chilli sauce. My new-found companions were digging in, so I joined them.
Hunanese Pig's Ear Strips with Chillies
I wasn’t so wrong taste-wise on the bacon rind comparison, but the textures were different. Like snout (which I hadn’t then had), but more so, these seemed to be a mix of the gelatinous and cartilage. Biting into them, I first got a slightly resistant gelatinousness followed by the crisp texture of cartilage in the centre. All accompanied by that delicious pork flavour. The next twenty I sampled were the same!
Since then, when I head back to Hunan, I seek them out, but I’ve also eaten them elsewhere in China, including here at home, both as snacks and as part of full dishes at formal banquets. And they are sold both raw and cooked (usually braised in soy sauce) in most of the local supermarkets. I buy my raw supplies in the wet market.
Pig Ear
I am talking, of course, about 猪耳朵 (zhū ěr duo), sometimes shortened to 猪耳 (zhū ěr) – pig’s ears. Unlike the pig’s nose, their ears aren’t their most efficient organ, but they make up for it in flavour! Like the snout, they need cleaning, depilating and similar slow cooking.
Soy Braised Pig's Ears
In reference to that crunch I mentioned, a sort of nickname for the dish is 层层脆 (céng céng cuì) which literally means ‘layer upon layer of crisp’.
Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (eG-friendly Amazon.com link) defines the phrase ‘to make a pig’s ear of something’ as ‘to botch it’, then goes on to ‘make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear’ as ‘to attempt to make something good from what is by nature bad or inferior in quality’. Dr Brewer should be ashamed of himself. I’d much rather have a pig’s ear than a silk purse! I’d look a right idiot pulling out my silk purse to pay for my round of drinks down at the Olde Deaf Pig on a Friday night!
Of course, it’s not only in China that the hog’s auditory organs are considered a delicacy. They are eaten across Asia. I’ve enjoyed them in Vietnam as well as in pig’s ear salad in Thailand. I’ve eaten them in tapas bars in Spain. I’ve had them as beer food in Russia and in the Baltic countries.
And, I’m told that, once again, they are eaten in the ’soul food’ culture of the southern US. All very sensible, although I’m distressed to learn that in North Carolina they adulterate good offal, sometimes including ears, by mixing it with c⊘rnmeal in something called ‘livermush’. I’ll have the liver, thanks; keep the mush!
Anyway, if you haven’t already, and you get the chance, lend an ear to some ear; you may just be surprised.
