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Pigs' Feet, Soused

Pig's feet simmered, then soaked in vinegar, salt, pepper, and cloves.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 6 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 17,451 recipes. Both carry ethyl octanoate, which smells fruity, wine. The science ↓

Pigs' Feet, Soused

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the feet

  1. Wash the pig's feet in cold water and place them in a kettle with enough cold water to cover them.

  2. Bring to a boil, skimming off any foam that rises to the surface.

  3. Replenish the water with boiling water if it boils down.

  4. Cook for 4 hours or until very tender.

  5. Remove the feet, split them open between the hoofs, and take out the large bones.

Pickle

  1. In a large stone crock, layer the pig's feet cut side up, sprinkling each layer with salt, pepper, and cloves.

  2. Fill the crock with cider vinegar and cover it tightly.

  3. Let them sit for 24 hours.

Serve

  1. Heat them in a skillet with some of the congealed vinegar and cloves.

  2. If too sour, add a little water and salt as needed.

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. Pepper + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  2. Cider + vinegartop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together3,431 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Pepper + vinegartop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,814 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  4. Clove + cidertop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,683 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Clove + vinegartop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together10,386 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Pigs' feet
Provide the meat and gelatin that become tender during long cooking and set in the pickling liquid.
Cider vinegar
Acidity that preserves the feet and gives the soused flavour.
Ground cloves
Add warm, aromatic spice that flavours the pickling liquid and meat.

The step that matters

Cook until very tender before pickling. Long, gentle simmering breaks down connective tissue and collagen into gelatin, so the feet become tender. If they are undercooked, they stay tough and the vinegar cannot soften them.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (pepper, cider, vinegar):

  1. Allspicefits about as well
  2. Tarragonfits about as well
  3. Clovethe original
  4. Thymefits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against pepper, cider, vinegar. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“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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