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Soused Pig's Feet, or Pig's Pettitoes

A pickled pig's feet dish simmered, then cooled and stored in vinegar brine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Clove and allspice match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 7,874 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Soused Pig's Feet, or Pig's Pettitoes

Ingredients

Directions

Cook the feet

  1. Cover the pig's feet with cold water in a pot.

  2. Bring the water to a boil and cook gently until the feet are tender enough to remove the bones easily.

  3. Remove the feet and sprinkle a little coarse sea salt over them.

Make the pickling liquid

  1. Skim the cooking liquid when it cools.

  2. Add 1 quart of vinegar to the liquid.

  3. Boil the mixture with whole peppercorns, cloves, and allspice for a few minutes.

Pickle and store

  1. Place the feet in a crock when they are cold.

  2. Pour the boiling liquid over the feet, ensuring they are fully covered.

  3. Cover the crock and store the crock in a cool place.

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. Clove + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together7,874 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Vinegar + allspicetop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,548 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-methylbutyl acetate (fruit).

  3. Vinegar + clovetop 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
Collagen-rich skin and connective tissue turn tender and gelatinous during slow cooking, giving body to the dish.
Vinegar
Acidity preserves the meat and gives the pickled, sharp flavour that defines the dish.
Whole black peppercorns
Release aromatic pungency into the hot liquid, flavouring the pickle.
Whole cloves
Add warm, aromatic spice notes to the pickling liquid.
Whole allspice
Adds warm, peppery aromatic notes to the pickling liquid.

The step that matters

Cook the feet until just tender. Cooking gently until the bones release easily keeps the meat intact. Overcooking makes the skin and meat fall apart, while undercooking leaves connective tissue 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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