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PIG'S FEET, BOILED (au Naturel)
Scald and scrape the feet of a fully-grown porker, and carefully remove the covering of the toes. Split them in halves, lengthwise, and bind them securely with tape in their original position. Put them into a stewpan, with a quart of stock or water, a bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, a bay-leaf, two onions, two carrots, a stick of celery, and a little salt and cayenne. Let them simmer gently until they are tender. Drain them, and draw out the large bones. Put the feet back into the liquid, and let them remain in it until cold. After they have been boiled as above directed, they may be either served hot, with peas pudding, and turnip-tops, broiled, fried, or eaten cold with vinegar. Time to simmer, three hours from the time the gravy reaches the boiling point. Sufficient for two persons.
A plainly written method for boiled trotters that still works, provided you buy them already scalded and scraped. The instruction that matters most is the last one: let them cool in their own liquid, because that is what sets the gelatine and keeps the meat from drying out.
- Buying the feetButchers and most Asian and Latin American markets sell pig's trotters already scalded, scraped and often split. Hind feet are generally said to carry a little more meat than the fore feet, so ask for them if you have a choice. "A fully-grown porker" simply means an adult pig rather than a suckling one.
- "Remove the covering of the toes"This is the horny outer sheath of the hoof, which lifts off after scalding. A commercially prepared trotter will already have had this done; check between the cleats and pull off anything hard or loose.
- TapeKitchen tape here means cotton binding tape, the sort used for larding and trussing. Butcher's twine does the same job: tie each split foot back into shape at two or three points so it holds together through three hours of simmering.
- A quartAn imperial quart is 40 fl oz, about 1.1 litres, rather than the 32 fl oz US quart. Either is fine, but the feet should be more or less covered; top up with water if the level drops.
- The simmerThree hours at a bare tremble, never a rolling boil, which will cloud the liquid and shred the skin. The feet are done when a skewer goes through the thickest part with no resistance and the skin has gone translucent. A pressure cooker will get there in about 45 minutes at high pressure, though the stock will be less clear.
- Boning while warmDraw out the large bones as soon as the feet are cool enough to handle. Once the gelatine sets, the meat grips the bone and the shape collapses when you pull. Small bones and the cartilage are usually left in.
- Cooling in the liquidThe point of returning the feet to the pot is that the stock sets to a firm jelly around them. Cover and refrigerate rather than leaving them out overnight as the original assumes.
- ServingFor the broiled or fried finish, dry the cold feet, egg-and-breadcrumb them if you like, and colour them under a hot grill or in a pan until the skin blisters. Pease pudding is split yellow peas cooked to a purée; turnip-tops are the greens, not the roots.
- YieldTwo feet serve two as a main course, though richness makes them heavy going. Four feet will feed four, and the cooking liquid sets to a jelly as a by-product.
Trotters were among the cheapest parts of the pig and remained a staple of British working-class cookery well into the twentieth century, sold hot from tripe shops and pub counters alongside cow-heel and pig's cheek. Cassell's places this under the plain-boiled heading and marks it au naturel — that is, without the breadcrumbing, sauces or stuffings that dressed the same ingredient up in French kitchens, where long-cooked trotters were crumbed and grilled for the celebrated pieds de porc à la Sainte-Menehould. The pairing with pease pudding is associated chiefly with northern England, where it also appears beside boiled bacon and saveloys. What the recipe understands, without saying so, is that a trotter is almost entirely skin, collagen and bone: it exists to be cooked long and slow, and its reward is the jelly as much as the meat.