Belgian Fried Calf's Feet

A simple crumb-and-fry treatment for a cut that now takes some sourcing. The whole dish hinges on the first boil: calf's feet need long, patient simmering before they will take a coating, and undercooked they are inedibly tough.

• Sourcing the feetCalf's feet are a special order from a halal, kosher or old-style butcher, often sold split lengthwise. The recipe does not say how many to use. If only pig's trotters are available they behave similarly but are fattier and stronger in flavour.
• The first boil"Until tender" means 2½ to 3 hours at a bare simmer, until the meat and skin yield easily to a knife and the bones slip free. A rolling boil clouds the liquid and shreds the gelatinous skin, which is the part you want intact.
• Save the cooking liquidThe broth left behind sets to a firm jelly when cold. Period cooks used it for aspic, sauces and calf's-foot jelly for invalids; strain and chill it rather than pouring it away.
• Cool before crumbingThe recipe does not say so, but boiled feet are far easier to handle if pressed flat and chilled before breading. Hot, they tend to collapse and the coating slides off; cold, they cut into neater pieces that hold the egg and crumb.
• Fine bread-crumbsIn books of this era this generally means dried crumbs sieved fine rather than fresh soft crumbs. Stale bread grated and passed through a sieve gives the smooth, even shell the recipe assumes.
• Deep hot lardLard was the standard frying fat; any neutral oil works. Bring it to 350–375°F. The interior is already cooked, so the fry is only for colour and crispness — three to four minutes.
• Tomato sauceA tomato sauce of this period is a cooked, sieved, lightly thickened sauce closer to a thin coulis than to pasta sauce. Something simmered from tinned tomatoes with onion and butter, then blended smooth, suits it better than anything jarred.
• YieldThe recipe gives no yield. Two feet, boned and cut, would make roughly four small first-course servings, or two plates as a main with potatoes.