Pigs' ears

[Deleted]

I could tell that there was a demand for how to cook this delicious item, so I took up the challenge. Please note that this is the first time I have ever eaten or prepared them.



Pigs do not seem to have ear wax.



First you have to boil them for at least an hour with some carrots, onion, herbs and spices and of course salt and pepper. Oh, and I love garlic.



Once cooked, take the solid items out to allow them to cool.





Slice the ears into strips, just like you do with tripe when following my tripe recipe.



It actually looks quite a bit like sliced tripe once it is all cut up.



Now for the good stuff in the frying pan -- butter, chopped parsley and tons of garlic.



Once it is all sizzling, throw in the ears. Warning! You need to cover them because they tend to explode in the heat. One piece went flying across my kitchen.



If you turn down the heat, they stop exploding and gently brown to the proper consistency. I was quite happy with the final result.

I will make this dish again, some day. Perhaps I will try the alternate recipe. That consists of dipping the strips in a beaten egg, rolling them in breadcrumbs, and deep frying them. Frankly pigs' ears are not readily available in most places unless you have an intimate relationship with your butcher, but I found them at my nearest Carrefour hypermarket, which I have already noted seems to have some daring items for sale quite regularly, perhaps due to the large Chinese community of Aubervilliers. Nevertheless, I always brace myself for going to checkout, because most of the cashiers are Muslim and I live in constant fear of a sneer of disgust when I go to pay, especially since there was some whisky on sale as well, 2 for the price of 1. But I am quite happy to say that no cashier has ever reacted to what I buy, either at Carrefour or at my local supermarket.

[htmb]

Your pictures are lovely, and it looks like you've made the best "silk purse" out of those piggy ears. If I ever needed to enjoy pigs ears I suspect I'd follow a similar method of preparation, but in the meantime I suppose I'll pass. What was the consistency? Chewy? Crunchy? You added enough goodies to enhance their flavor, but I'm wondering how much flavor was brought to the dish by the ears.

[Deleted]

Pigs' ears are pretty similar to pigs' feet or even fatback. The interesting part is the grilled fatty layer, and just about all of the flavour is there. I will admit that there are strands of cartilage in the ears, but that is not a problem for me since I also enjoy gnawing off the joints on chicken bones. So there is the crunch of the cartilage but also the melt-in-your-mouth pleasure of the fat and skin. If anybody needs to find actual meat in their mouth, I would certainly not recommend trying this.

[htmb]

I've cooked/eaten pig's feet and fat back, though not in ages, so I'm surprised to hear there's so much fat in the ears. I figured that if any part of a pig would be lean, it would be the ears. :-)

[lugg]

You lost me as I imagined "pigs ears a la ear wax"

[tod2]

In France the charcutier would slowly simmer the pigs ears over night in the broth in which he cooks the trotters and the ham. Then they are seared under the grill.
The eating of them is described by Michael Sadler who wrote the book An Englishman in Paris, as le paradis and pork nirvana.

Which brings me to the thought....if Au Pied Cochon, the pig trotter empire, dishes up numerous servings of pigs feet all day, they must be into pig's ears as well...?

Looks like there is nothing to preparing these floppy delicious appendages except time and a good stock.

[Deleted]

I made pig's ears just once and was not completely satisfied with the result, which was probably a result of not boiling them long enough. Even though the French say that the pig is the one animal of which you can eat every body part ("Tout est bon dans le cochon."), I decided that I do not need to eat the ears. It is already enough that I eat the feet and the snout.