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Broiled Pig's Feet
Split in two three fine, fat, cooked pigs' feet. Season with half teaspoon salt and a saltspoon white pepper, evenly divided. Have a tablespoon oil on a plate, lightly roll each half foot in the oil, then in fresh bread crumbs. Arrange on a double broiler and broil on a brisk fire for five minutes on each side. Remove, dress on a hot dish; spread a maitre d' hotel butter over them and send to the table.
A finishing recipe rather than a cooking one: it assumes you already have pigs' feet that have been simmered until tender, and only crisps and dresses them. Everything depends on that first step, which the book leaves out.
- "Cooked" means hours of simmeringRaw trotters are all collagen and will not soften under a broiler. Simmer them in salted water with an onion, bay and a few peppercorns for 3 to 4 hours, until a skewer slides through the skin and the bones feel loose, then cool them before splitting. They are easiest to split lengthwise while still warm, with a heavy knife along the natural seam.
- SaltspoonA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon. The half teaspoon of salt and quarter teaspoon of white pepper are divided evenly among six half-feet, so the seasoning is light — the maître d'hôtel butter carries the rest.
- Double broilerNot a double boiler. This is a hinged wire grill, two grids that clamp the food between them so it can be turned over a fire in one motion. A hinged fish basket does the same job; failing that, a wire rack set on a sheet pan under the broiler element, turning with tongs.
- A brisk fireHigh, direct heat — the equivalent of a hot charcoal grill or a broiler element with the food about 4 inches below it. Five minutes a side is right for crumbs, not for cooking, since the meat is already done. Watch it: bread crumbs on oiled skin can go from golden to black in under a minute.
- Crumbs"Fresh bread crumbs" means soft crumbs torn or grated from day-old bread, not the dry sandy kind sold in canisters. They brown more unevenly than dry crumbs, which is part of the appeal here.
- Maître d'hôtel butterButter creamed with chopped parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper, then chilled. Roughly 4 tablespoons butter to a tablespoon of parsley and a teaspoon of lemon juice is one common proportion; slice it cold onto the hot feet so it melts at the table.
- YieldThree feet split gives six halves — a first course for six, or a main course for three with something sharp alongside. A mustard vinaigrette or pickled vegetables cuts the gelatin well.
- SourcingPigs' feet are still sold cheaply at butchers, Latin American and Asian markets, and often frozen. Ask for them split if you would rather not do it yourself; front and hind feet differ in size and meatiness, and butchers disagree about which is the better buy.
Pigs' feet are the classic thrift dish that never quite left the table: almost pure skin, bone and collagen, worthless unless someone is willing to spend hours over a pot, and delicious once they have. The two-stage treatment here — long moist cooking, then crumbing and grilling for texture — is standard French charcuterie practice, and closely related to the celebrated pieds de porc à la Sainte-Menehould of the Champagne region, where the feet are simmered for many hours and then breadcrumbed and browned. Maître d'hôtel butter, the parsley-and-lemon compound that finishes the dish, was the workhorse garnish of the professional kitchen of the period, applied to grilled steaks, fish and offal alike.