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Pigs' Feet, Stuffed a la Perigueux
With a pound and a half of turkey force-meat mix thoroughly a couple of truffles, minced fine, and half a wineglass of madeira wine. Take half a dozen pieces of shredded crepinette (a skin from the pig's stomach) and spread on each a piece of force-meat the size of an egg, and on this put half a pig's foot, boned. Cover lightly with force-meat, and lay 2 or 3 thin slices of truffles on top. Fold over the crepinettes in the shape of envelopes; then dip them in beaten egg and cover with bread crumbs, and cook in 2 tablespoonfuls of butter in a saute-pan; let them cook slowly for about fifteen minutes on each side, with a heavy weight on the pigs' feet. Serve with half a pint of hot Perigueux sauce; or, if preferred, serve with hot madeira sauce instead.
Mrs. Lincoln says: "If you like to know what you are eating, have your sausage meat prepared at home or by some one whom you can trust." The best sausage is made from young or pig pork, and the process is not a difficult one if, as there should be, there is a meat and vegetable grinder among the kitchen utensils. When once used, this will be found quite indispensable for meats, vegetables, bread crumbs--almost anything that requires to be chopped. Hamburg steaks as well as sausages are much better when prepared in one's own kitchen.
In selecting the pork for sausage, get one-third or one-fourth fat, the remainder good, solid lean. Grind fat and lean together (or have the butcher do it). Season highly with salt, pepper, sage, and a little thyme. A good proportion for the seasoning is an even tablespoonful of salt, 1 even teaspoonful of pulverized and sifted sage, 1/2 teaspoonful of thyme, powdered and sifted, and a saltspoon of white pepper to each pound of meat. Mix all thoroughly together and fill cotton bags, pressing the meat in compactly. Bags may be made for the purpose, from strong muslin, half a yard in length and four or five inches wide, or small salt bags may be saved for the purpose. These should be washed and boiled, and when needed for use dip in very strong salt water and dry them.
When filled as full as possible tie the mouths of the bags securely and put in a cool place. Several small bags are better than one large one, as only the meat for once or twice using is disturbed. Cut in slices what is needed, and tie the bag again.
In frying do not have the pan too hot at first, as they need thorough cooking, and the outside should be well browned, but not burned. As an accompaniment, core and pare 1 or 2 tart apples for each person; slice them across and fry in the sausage fat until tender, but not broken. Put the sausages in the centre of a hot platter and pile the slices around them. Tomato sauce may be substituted for the apples.
Boston brown bread sliced thin and sauted in the sausage pan, turning so that both sides are nicely browned, is a good addition to the dish.
A restaurant dish from the era when boned stuffed pig's trotters were standard hotel work, printed here with a long digression on home sausage making appended to it. The trotters must be fully cooked and cooled before any of this begins.
- The hinge: the feet are already cookedFifteen minutes a side in a saute-pan will not cook a raw trotter, which needs three to four hours of gentle simmering in seasoned stock before the bones will slip out. Simmer, cool under a light weight, then bone; the frying stage is only for browning and heating through.
- Crepinette here means caul fatThe recipe uses the word for the wrapper rather than the finished patty. What is wanted is caul fat, the lacy membrane from around the pig's stomach and intestines, sold by whole-animal butchers frozen or salted. Soak salted caul in warm water until pliable, then pat dry before spreading the forcemeat.
- Wineglass and half-pintA wineglass in American books of this period runs about 2 fluid ounces, so half a wineglass is roughly 1 fluid ounce, about 2 tablespoons of madeira. Half a pint of sauce is 1 cup, enough to nap six parcels.
- SaltspoonIn the sausage seasoning, a saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon. The proportions given work out to about a tablespoon of salt per pound, which is on the salty side of modern practice.
- Turkey force-meatGround raw turkey thigh with a good proportion of pork fat, seasoned and bound with egg, gives the texture intended. Plain lean breast meat will be dry and crumbly and will not hold the parcel together.
- TrufflesFresh black truffle is the intent; tinned truffle peelings and their juice are the practical substitute. Truffle oil is not a substitute in a dish cooked this long.
- The weightA weight on top keeps the caul-wrapped parcels flat against the pan so the crumb crust colours evenly and the folded edges seal. A second heavy skillet or a foil-wrapped brick does it.
- On the bagged sausageMuslin bags dipped in brine and kept in a cool place are not a cure, only a way of holding fresh sausage in a cold nineteenth-century larder. Sausage made to these proportions is fresh meat and needs refrigeration or freezing, and thorough cooking.
- YieldSix parcels, one per person as a substantial main course.