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Jelli/ of Pigs Feet and Ears

A jellied dish made from pig's feet and ears simmered with herbs and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Sage and parsley match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 1,445 recipes. Both carry beta-phellandrene, which smells minty, terpene. The science ↓

Jelli/ of Pigs Feet and Ears

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Clean and prepare the pig's feet and ears.

Cook

  1. Boil them in a small quantity of water until the bones can be removed.

  2. Add half a handful of chopped sage and parsley, along with a seasoning of pepper, salt, and mace.

  3. Simmer until the herbs are scalded.

Set

  1. Pour the mixture into a melon-shaped mold.

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. Sage + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,445 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  2. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  3. Sage + peppertop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,388 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  4. Parsley + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,268 recipes

    Shared aroma: myristicin (spice, warm).

  5. Sage + macetop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together519 recipes

    Shared aroma: alpha-pinene (pine, turpentine).

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

What each ingredient does

Pigs feet
Release gelatin as they simmer, helping the mixture set into a firm jelly.
Pigs ears
Add gelatin and connective tissue that help the dish hold its shape when chilled.
Chopped sage
Adds a savoury, aromatic herbal flavour that suits rich pork.

The step that matters

Simmer until the herbs are scalded. Heating the herbs only until scalded keeps their flavour fresh; overcooking dulls aroma and can make the broth taste bitter. Gelatin from the bones and ears needs a gentle simmer to dissolve fully, so the jelly sets properly when cooled.

Swap the mace

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

  1. Marjoramfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Rosemaryfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against sage, parsley, pepper. 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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