Cooked Split Pigs’ Feet
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Thoroughly wash the pigs' feet and remove any scurf.
Place the feet in a 100° salt pickle with a small amount of nitrate of soda or saltpeter and let cure for fifteen days.
Cook
Put the feet in a cooking vat and add enough cold water to submerge them.
Turn on the steam and bring the water to a boil (212°F).
Boil for twelve minutes, then shut off the steam and close the lid tightly.
Allow the feet to continue cooking for twelve to fifteen hours.
Chill the feet with cold water.
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
What each ingredient does
- Pigs' feet
- Provide the main meat and gelatinous connective tissue that gives the finished dish its body.
- Nitrate of soda or saltpeter
- Helps cure the meat, contributing to its pink color and cured flavor.
The step that matters
Allow the feet to continue cooking for twelve to fifteen hours. Collagen in the connective tissue breaks down into gelatin only through long, gentle cooking. Stopping early leaves the feet tough and chewy.
“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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