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Broiled Pigs' Feet

A dish of boiled pig's feet, then broiled with salt, pepper, flour, and butter.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Flour and butter are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 12% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes. Both carry isobutyraldehyde, which smells malty, green. The science ↓

Broiled Pigs' Feet

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and simmer

  1. Scrape and wash the pigs' feet thoroughly.

  2. Tie each foot in a separate piece of cheesecloth.

  3. Place the feet in a stew pan with 2 tablespoons of coarse sea salt and enough boiling water to cover them.

  4. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce heat and let the feet simmer for 6 hours.

  5. Remove the pan from heat and let it cool.

  6. Transfer the feet to a platter and drain, keeping the cloth on.

  7. In the morning, remove the cloth and split the feet.

Broil and serve

  1. Dredge the feet with salt, pepper, and flour.

  2. Broil over clear coals for 10 minutes.

  3. Serve on a warm platter, seasoned with salt, pepper, and butter.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Flour + buttertop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  2. Pepper + flourtop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together50,459 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  3. Pepper + buttertop 21% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together85,593 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-nonenal (cardboard, fatty).

Flour and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Pigs' feet
Simmering softens the connective tissue and gelatin, giving a tender meat that holds together.
Flour
Dredging creates a light coating that helps the surface brown and crisp under the broiler.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, carrying flavor and adding moisture to the seasoned surface.

The step that matters

Broiling after the feet have cooled. The feet are already fully cooked and tender from the long simmer, so the broiler only needs to brown the floured surface. Overcooking will dry them out and make the meat tough.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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