Braised pigs ear recipe

[chefadamg]

Hello:

After seeing Gordon Ramsey snack on a wonderfull looking pigs ear on his show F Word. I figured I'd give it a try. Picked up 8 nice size ears today at our local hispanic market.However, can't really find a decent recipe. I figured I'd go w/ a traditional braise, press and chill overnight, slice and coat w/ mustard and panko...serve traditional style w/ sauce gribiche ... (I'm not doing an Asian insprired dish this time, although I'd love to hear some recipes) But I'm a little unsure of cooking time, anyone have a ballpark figure? I assume 2-4 hours??

Thanks, Adam

[annecros]

There is an awful lot of collagen to break down here. I would suggest a pressure cooker, if you have one. It's been years since I have eaten them. I don't know why, they are cheap and plentiful in my area.

I think my grandmother also deep fried them, but you are looking for a braise. She used a pressure cooker for about 30 minutes then simmered an hour or two until tender, refrigerated, then spiced them up and served them cold.

But like I said, it has been years.

Edited January 14, 2007 by annecros (log)

[judiu]

Fergus Henderson in The Whole Beast suggests braising for about an hour with onion, carrot, leek, celery, garlic (a whole head! unpeeled), lemon zest, red wine and a cheesecloth bag with a bunch of mixed fresh herbs, a bay leaf and a "scant handful" of whole black peppercorns. The broth is from the Headcheese recipe;he then goes on to suggest that you slice the cooled ears very thin, deep fry the slices, and use them as you would lardons in a salad made mostly of chicory, curley parsley, sorrel leaves and some capers dressed with a vinegarette. HTH!

Sounds awfully good to me!

[chefadamg]

Fergus Henderson in The Whole Beast suggests braising for about an hour with onion, carrot, leek, celery, garlic (a whole head! unpeeled), lemon zest, red wine and a cheesecloth bag with a bunch of mixed fresh herbs, a bay leaf and a "scant handful" of whole black peppercorns. The broth is from the Headcheese recipe;he then goes on to suggest that you slice the cooled ears very thin, deep fry the slices, and use them as you would lardons in a salad made mostly of chicory, curley parsley, sorrel leaves and some capers dressed with a vinegarette. HTH!

Sounds awfully good to me!

←

YES..that sounds great. I think Fergus Henderson may have been the chef who cooked the pig ears for Gordon Ramsay. Not sure though. I'm going to prep the ears tonight. I think I'll take some pictures and post them tomorrow.

[Mistinguett]

Don't throw away the broth - spike it up with some freshly crushed garlic, adjust the s&p seasoning, strain through a cheesecloth in cups or small containers for individual portions or in a square pyrex dish that you can portion yourself, throw in a few of those ear strips and refrigerate overnight.

If you want to get even fancier, place a slice of a hard boiled egg and a parsley leaf on the bottom of the cup, pour carefully a bit of liquid, refrigerate half an hour, place ear strips over, cover in liquid. Basically an aspic although sort of cloudy.

[Kent Wang]

A common Chinese preparation is to braise it with soy sauce, cooking wine, Sichuan pepper, star anise and whatever other spices you want to add.

Can extended cooking result in softer, less crispy cartilage? A peeve of mine is hard cartilage.

[godito]

Can extended cooking result in softer, less crispy cartilage? A peeve of mine is hard cartilage.

←

Not quite extended cooking. You need to cook them at a lower temperature (for a longer time). Temperature must be kept under boiling (Textbooks often say 70ºC) and cook until fork tender.

At lower temperatures, collagen will not "melt" and at much higher temperatures, there is a risk for the meat to dry out (at boiling point, the liquid inside the meat is also boiling)