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Pigs' Feet Souse

Pickled pig's feet seasoned with vinegar, salt, pepper, and spices.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and clove match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 14,189 recipes. Both carry ethyl cinnamate, which smells sweet, balsamic. The science ↓

Pigs' Feet Souse

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the feet

  1. Clean and trim the pig's feet.

  2. Parboil the feet, skimming the water once or twice, and discard the water.

  3. Pour boiling water over the feet and simmer for 3 to 4 hours with very little salt.

Pack and heat

  1. Remove the feet and pack them in a jar with vinegar, pepper, and salt.

  2. Heat in a little fresh vinegar, then slice cold.

Dress and finish

  1. Remove bones and skins if desired, and pack the meat in granite loaf tins or jars.

  2. Boil 1 pint of vinegar with ½ cup of sugar and a spice bag containing cinnamon, cloves, and allspice for 15 minutes.

  3. Add this mixture to the liquor and boil together for 2 to 3 minutes.

  4. Taste and adjust the vinegar and liquor as needed.

  5. Pour over the meat and keep in a warm place for about an hour to allow the meat to absorb the dressing.

  6. Slice cold like any meat loaf.

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. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together14,189 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

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

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  3. Cinnamon + allspicetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together5,536 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Pepper + allspicetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together6,395 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Pigs' feet
Provide collagen that softens into gelatin, helping the meat hold together and set.
Vinegar
Supplies sharp acidity that sets the flavour and helps preserve the meat.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the sharpness of the vinegar.
Cinnamon
Adds warm aroma to the sharp dressing.
Cloves
Adds warm, pungent aroma to the dressing.
Allspice
Adds mixed warm aroma to the dressing.

The step that matters

Simmer the feet gently for 3 to 4 hours. Long, gentle simmering softens the collagen in the skin and connective tissue into gelatin, which helps the meat set firmly when cold. Cutting the simmer short leaves the meat tough and the souse loose.

“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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