No. 1785

Pigs Feet Truffled

Pieds de Cochon Truffes

This is one of the best, at the same time the easiest way of utilizing the pig's feet. Make two pounds of forcemeat composed of one pound of fat pork taken from under the spine and a pound and a quarter of lean taken from the end of the tenderloin. Peel five good sized truffles, cut one of them up in slices to lay over the "crepinette" or caul fat, and the other four in small three-sixteenths of an inch squares. Mix the forcemeat with the small bits of truffle, two eggs, two pinches of flour, and a few drops of orange flower water; season with a third of an ounce of salt for every pound, white pepper and nutmeg; mix well together and leave stand for half an hour. Bone four pigs' feet cooked in a white stock, cut the meat into small pieces and put them into a saucepan with good broth (No. 194a) just sufficient to cover, add the truffle peelings and a little sherry wine. After this has been boiling ten minutes pour the whole into a flat square vessel to make a layer half an inch thick, then leave it to get cold. Soak a "crepinette" or caul fat in cold water, wipe it perfectly dry and then spread it out; lay on this three slices of truffle placed lozenge form. Roll out a ball of the forcemeat of two ounces, flatten to an oval form. Cut some of the feet now formed into a jelly the same shape only a little smaller; and lay it on the forcemeat, cover with another piece exactly the size and shape of the first then wrap around the "crepinette" giving it while rolling it in the hands the shape of an oval.

To Cook the Feet.—Butter these with a brush, dip them in white bread-raspings, and then broil them over a slow fire; turn four times while cooking to allow the juice of the feet to penetrate the forcemeat. At the last moment increase the heat; they should be of a fine golden color all over.

← No. 1784 Pigs' Feet-Broiled Pork No. 1786 Pigs' Feet with Truffles, Perigord →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer is building a crépinette: a flat oval sausage of seasoned pork forcemeat wrapped in caul fat, here with a slab of set pig's-foot jelly hidden inside. The work is all in the assembly, and it can be done a day ahead.

The hinge: the jelly must be cold and firmThe layer of chopped foot meat in reduced broth has to set hard enough to cut into clean shapes and to survive being enclosed. Chill it several hours, ideally overnight; if it is soft it will run out through the caul on the grill and you will have a plain sausage.
Crépinette and caul fatRanhofer uses crépinette here for the wrapper itself: caul, the lacy membrane from around a pig's stomach and intestines, usually sold frozen by whole-animal butchers. Thaw it, soak briefly in cold water (some cooks add a splash of vinegar), and pat it dry as instructed — wet caul tears.
The feet must be cooked first"Bone four pigs' feet cooked in a white stock" assumes a prior step: simmer them 3 to 4 hours in a light unsalted stock with aromatics until the meat pulls from the bone. No. 194a is Ranhofer's cross-reference to one of his own broths; any well-made unsalted white stock works.
Forcemeat weights don't add upOne pound of fat pork plus a pound and a quarter of lean is two and a quarter pounds, not two. Treat it as a ratio — roughly 45 percent hard back fat to 55 percent lean shoulder or loin end — and grind coarse, then work it briefly so it binds.
SaltA third of an ounce per pound is about 9 g per 450 g, close to 2 percent, which is on the assertive side of modern sausage practice (1.5 to 1.8 percent is usual). Fry a spoonful to taste before wrapping.
Orange flower water"A few drops" means a few. It is a period seasoning for pork forcemeat and turns soapy fast; five or six drops in this quantity is plenty, and the dish is not harmed by leaving it out.
TrufflesFive good-sized fresh black truffles is a Delmonico's budget. Preserved black truffles work for the diced interior and the decorative lozenge under the caul; the "peelings" simmered with the feet are there purely to scent the broth, and truffle trimmings or a little of the jar liquid do the same job. Truffle oil will not.
Bread-raspingsDried, sieved crumbs from oven-hardened bread — fine dry breadcrumbs, not fresh, and not panko.
Cooking"Broil over a slow fire" means a moderate grill or a heavy pan over medium-low heat for 15 to 20 minutes with the four turns, finishing hot for color. Cook the pork through: 160F at the center. Rushing them splits the caul and leaves the interior cold.
YieldEach parcel takes two two-ounce pieces of forcemeat, four ounces in all, so two pounds of forcemeat gives about eight parcels (nine from the two and a quarter pounds the listed ingredients actually make) — two per person, so four servings.

A Little History

This is from Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the enormous record of his years as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and it shows the kitchen economy behind a luxury restaurant: pig's feet, the cheapest scrap of the pig, dressed in truffles and served as a hot entrée. Ranhofer says as much in his first line — this is a way of "utilizing" them. The crépinette is a French charcuterie form, generally associated with Paris pork butchers of the nineteenth century; the entry immediately following this one gives a Périgord variant, the truffle country of southwest France. The trick is to enclose set gelatinous foot meat inside a forcemeat, so it melts and bastes the parcel from within as it grills.