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Pig's Feet, Soup Of
Take two sets of pigs' feet and pigs' ears, cleanse them thoroughly, and put them into a stewpan, with three quarts of water, a little pepper and salt, a bunch of savoury herbs, a carrot, two onions, and half a head of celery. Remove the scum as it rises, and simmer the liquid gently for four hours. Pour it out, strain it, cut the meat into dice, lay these aside, and leave the soup to get cold. The next morning lift off the cake of fat which will have settled on the top, pour off the liquid, free from sediment, return it to the saucepan, season rather highly with salt, cayenne, and white pepper, and thicken with flour and butter. Let the soup boil gently for some minutes. Put the pieces of meat into a saucepan, with as much gravy as will cover them; let them get quite hot, then put them with the soup. Simmer all together for a few minutes, and serve. Sufficient for eight or ten persons.
A thrifty gelatine-rich broth built on cheap cuts. The method is sound; only the shopping and a few proportions need translating.
- What "two sets" meansA set is generally taken as the four feet from one pig, so this points to about eight trotters plus roughly four ears. Butchers and Asian or Latin American markets sell both; halved trotters release gelatine faster. Three quarts is the stated quantity, but it will only just cover this much meat, so use a snug deep pot and top up as needed.
- The hinge: keep it at a bare simmerTrotters throw a lot of collagen and fat, and a rolling boil will emulsify the fat into the liquid so it never lifts off cleanly the next day. Hold it at a lazy tremble for the full four hours and skim as directed.
- Overnight chilling is not optionalRefrigerate the strained stock; the fat sets into a firm cake you can lift off in one piece, and the sediment stays behind. The stock beneath will set to a stiff jelly, which is correct, not a fault.
- Cleaning the feet and earsScrub well, singe or scrape off any remaining bristle, then blanch in fresh water for five minutes and drain before starting the stew. This removes scum at the source and gives a much clearer soup.
- Thickening with flour and butterCook the butter and flour together for a minute or two first, then whisk in the hot stock. For three quarts, about 3 tablespoons of each is enough; the stock is already gelatinous and will thicken further as it cools in the bowl.
- Seasoning "rather highly"The dish is bland without real heat. Cayenne, white pepper and salt should be assertive; a spoonful of vinegar or a squeeze of lemon at the end cuts the richness, though the original does not call for it.
- The diced meatPick the meat and skin from the bones while still warm, as it will not separate once chilled. Ear cartilage is meant to be eaten and keeps a slight resilient bite; slice it thin.
- YieldThe stated eight to ten is reasonable, most plausibly as a first course. It reheats well and will need thinning with water or stock after refrigeration.
Pig's feet soup belongs to the strand of Victorian cookery that treated nothing from the carcass as waste, and trotters were a standard household source of gelatine before packaged leaf and powder became cheap and universal. The same feet were boiled for calf's-foot-jelly substitutes, for brawn and for the stock that gave aspics their set. Ears, with their cartilage, add body and a texture that was valued rather than tolerated; they persist in that role in Southern American, Chinese and Iberian cooking today. The instruction to chill overnight and lift the fat spreads the work across two days.