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Pigs Feet and Ears in Jelly

A preserved dish of pig feet and ears simmered with herbs and spices until they form a jelly.

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 ↓

Pigs Feet and Ears in Jelly

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare and cook

  1. Clean the pigs feet and ears carefully and soak them in cold water for 2 hours.

  2. Cover them with water and simmer for 3 hours.

  3. Remove the bones.

  4. Add 1 tablespoon of sage, 1 tablespoon of parsley, ½ teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of cayenne, and 2 teaspoons of powdered mace.

  5. Simmer for another hour until reduced to a jelly.

Set and serve

  1. Pour into a mold to stiffen and serve cold.

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
Collagen converts to gelatin during long simmering, which allows the liquid to set into a jelly.
Pigs ears
Their collagen adds gelatin, helping the cooked liquid firm up when chilled.
Powdered mace
Adds a warm, aromatic spice flavour that balances the richness of the meat.
Sage
Contributes an earthy, aromatic flavour that suits the rich meat and gelatin.

The step that matters

Reducing to a jelly. The final simmer concentrates the liquid and its dissolved gelatin. Too little reduction leaves the mold from setting firmly, while overcooking can leave the jelly dull and tough.

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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