Spiced pigs trotters

(I am cooking this dish again next week so new picture to follow )

A challenging dish ! Now there are many "foodies" that know all about how delicious pig's trotters are, equally there are many less adventurous folk that would never touch them with a bargepole.

I've tried in this dish to do a number of things - firstly provide a challenge to the chef, this is after all a lengthy and quite labour intensive dish, and probably not frequently tried by home cooks. Secondly add flavouring and spices which will cut through some of the richness of the classic dish and provide a really interesting eating experience. Finally provide a dish that is fun to eat (use your fingers), unusual (and therefore a talking point amongst friends) but above all else delicious and morish!

Enjoy!!!!!!

Ingredients

4 pigs feet - split and cleaned

 Sea salt

a good pinch of white pepper, ground nutmeg, ground cloves, ground ginger and ground cinnamon

finely ground dried chillies

Court bouillon or alternatively vegetable stock 

1 egg white

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1 teaspoon horseradish sauce

100 g dry breadcrumbs

Salad leaves

Orange, mustard and honey dressing

A word of warning the whole process takes a minimum of 3 days, so please plan accordingly! To eat on a Saturday I start the process Wednesday morning.

48 hours before cooking, buy your pig's trotters from a good butcher - the hind trotters are bigger than the front ones and therefore offer slightly more meat per trotter.

Once home create the seasoned salt by taking 40g of sea salt and add a good pinch of each of the following ground spices: nutmeg, cloves, ginger and cinnamon, plus a pinch of white pepper and finely ground dried chillies. Mix well and use the spiced salt to cover each of the pigs trotters. Place in a covered dish and refrigerate for 48 hours, turning once or twice.

Now pre-heat the oven to 140 C. Remove the trotters from the fridge and rinse under cold running water. Wrap each of the trotters in muslin to ensure that they will not fall apart during cooking.

Place the trotters in a deep casserole dish and pour over the court bouillon or vegetable stock (it's worth making a bouillon if you have the time, if not the vegetable stock will do fine). If there is not sufficient liquid to cover the trotters add a little water. Now place a piece of greaseproof paper on top, place a cover on the dish and cook for 3 hours. Check after 90 minutes to see if any further liquid is required and top up as necessary.

After 3 hours check the trotters with a skewer. If coked the skewer will slide through very easily. If not give another 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, uncover and allow to cool in the cooking liquid. When cool enough to handle, remove by hand and very carefully unwrap them.

Now take a shallow dish and carefully place them skin side up. Gently remove the largest bone at the shank end - it should come out very easily. Now cover the entire dish with greaseproof paper and then a chopping board on top. Place a weight on top (a couple of tins or jars) and place in the fridge overnight. This will compact the flesh.

Don't forget to strain the cooking liquid and use for sauces, soups or aspic.

The next day,one hour before serving, carefully remove the trotters from the plate - they will stick because of the gelatinous nature of the dish - discard any excess jelly.

Pre-heat the oven to 230 C and lightly oil greaseproof paper and place on a baking sheet.

Whisk up the egg white, add the dijon mustard and horseradish sauce and mix well. Now using a pastry brush coat the trotters carefully with the mix. Now dip them carefully in the breadcrumbs. Place skin side up on the greaseproof paper and cook in the hot oven for 25 minutes. The trotters will take on a lovely golden appearance.

The trotters are ideally served with a mixed green salad. A dressing of orange juice, white wine vinegar, mustard, a little honey and vegetable oil, seasoned with black pepper would be perfect!

Serve with the salad immediately.  Don't be scared to tuck in with your fingers, picking out all that delicious meat, nicely spiced and breadcrumbed! Delicious!

A simple sauce of soy sauce, chopped fresh chillies and chopped ginger goes extremely well with the trotters!

Comments

[gourmet traveller]

Paul, is it one egg white you use? I scoured the ingredient list but can't find it! (great recipe btw)

[paul]

GT - sorry I missed that out - yes one egg white !