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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 13, 2021 9:34:52 GMT
I know this is going to be a big favourite, so let's get started. I bought two pigs feet for 2 euros and they jumped right in the pot.
Four hours later, they were looking very relaxed.
Time for me to do some real work -- removing the bones. You have to wait a while because the bones stay hot for much longer than you would think.
You end up with about 50% goodies and 50% bones.
My little piggies slept in a bowl overnight, and I turned it over on my cutting board.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 13, 2021 9:44:52 GMT
Time to chop it all up.   These are the only other ingredients besides spices, salt and pepper. Red onion just because that's what was lying around.  Time to mix it all up.   I transferred it to an oven dish and pressed down the surface with a flat dish.  I put it in the over for just ten minutes to wake up the gelatin. It browned ever so slightly.  If you eat head cheese, it is really the same thing. And if you eat sweets, it is also the same thing because they are made with pork gelatin.  Once it was completely cool again, all that was left to do was to flip it over onto a plate.  Dinner was delicious with fried potatoes. 
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Post by patricklondon on Feb 13, 2021 11:39:29 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 13, 2021 17:24:48 GMT
I am very happy to see this. I used to make head cheese frequently and don't know why I haven't in years, especially since cut up pig heads are easily available here. And really, Louisiana head cheese is much better than Mexican head cheese. Looking at the pictures and the title of this thread, I am now wondering why it never occurred to me to make pig feet this way. Pig feet are always on offer in the market & the butchers offer to cut them into any configuration the client wants. Thus, I've made pickled pigs feet many times, but with the (now) obvious option of trotter cheese somehow ignored by my brain.
The pictures are wonderful and the last one reduced me to a pile of whimpering nostalgia and craving.
I can mostly figure out your boiling ingredients from the first picture, but is that red pepper &/or bouillon cube in the left side of the piece of celery? Also, did you add any vinegar to the water the feet were boiled in?
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 13, 2021 17:44:04 GMT
I did chop up some chillies as part of the boiling ingredients. I also used some cloves, which are a traditional ingredient here when boiling pork.
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Post by lugg on Feb 13, 2021 19:42:53 GMT
That looks delicious and I appreciated all the info re cooking stages. I have no idea what head cheese is though - so off to google
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 13, 2021 20:08:09 GMT
the butchers offer to cut them into any configuration the client wants. While this sounds like a good idea, especially for people who are a bit disturbed by the sight of a pig's foot, I finally understood that having the butcher cut or chop it simply creates more bone fragments that you have to pick out. |
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 13, 2021 21:00:35 GMT
We have surgical butchers here. I've made pigs feet a bunch & never had any sharp or slivery pieces, but you do have a point.
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Post by questa on Feb 15, 2021 8:20:56 GMT
My boys and I liked pigs head, I'd buy half a head, give it a bit of a cleanup and boil it gently with some mixed herbs for 3 hours or until it was falling apart.Make it into a casserole, or sandwiches for school where they could ask the other kids what they thought happened to the teeth.
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 15, 2021 8:42:53 GMT
There's a French expression "tout est bon dans le cochon" which basically means that absolutely every part of a pig can be used -- there is nothing to throw away.
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 15, 2021 10:23:32 GMT
I don't understand the fascination with all the grotty pig bits when you have all that lovely meat elsewhere.
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Post by patricklondon on Feb 15, 2021 12:20:48 GMT
There's a French expression " tout est bon dans le cochon" which basically means that absolutely every part of a pig can be used -- there is nothing to throw away. In English, I've heard it said you can use every part except the oink. My blog | My photos | My video clips | My Librivox recordings"too literate to be spam"
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Post by questa on Feb 15, 2021 14:10:12 GMT
Even the boar water!
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 15, 2021 14:10:15 GMT
How about as a ring tone?  |
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Post by fumobici on Feb 15, 2021 15:41:52 GMT
I don't understand the fascination with all the grotty pig bits when you have all that lovely meat elsewhere. I concur but I'm glad there are French people and foodies to eat all the grotty bits too.
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 15, 2021 15:55:53 GMT
Indeed. I am more than happy to take pork chops, bacon, gammon joints etc etc and let the foodies have the rest.
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 15, 2021 18:13:03 GMT
What do you all think is in sausages or pâté or terrine? Kerouac's "pressed pigs feet" are in fact a terrine. |
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Post by kerouac2 on Feb 15, 2021 18:26:25 GMT
...whereas hot dogs are really really repulsive for people with the wrong mindset, since they include the eyeballs, the testicles and all sorts of other things.
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Post by fumobici on Feb 15, 2021 20:09:26 GMT
I know  but I steadfastly refuse to think about lovely sausages too hard. If you grind it up finely enough and add enough garlic it doesn't count! Plus, I was dying to use the phrase "grotty bits".
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Post by mickthecactus on Feb 15, 2021 21:10:46 GMT
I know but I steadfastly refuse to think about lovely sausages too hard. If you grind it up finely enough and add enough garlic it doesn't count! Plus, I was dying to use the phrase "grotty bits". Spot on fumo. |
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Post by questa on Feb 16, 2021 12:08:16 GMT
How would you cook the little curly-wurley tails?  |
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Post by bixaorellana on Feb 16, 2021 17:47:58 GMT
Probably the same way you cook the ears. Pickled pork parts are common here & I've seen pieces that look like cut up tails.
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Post by tod2 on Feb 17, 2021 12:42:53 GMT
I liked your step-by-step photos of making what we call brawn. Mr.Tod absolutely loves it and one of the first things we do after getting off the train in Paris is to find a butchery or delicatessen offering those big slabs of jellied meat.
I've never tried making it probably because the bits and bobs aren't easily acquired in butcheries here in my home town. You don't get the "specially made" brawn either. It;s always a commercial concoction and not very nice.
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but I steadfastly refuse to think about lovely sausages too hard. If you grind it up finely enough and add enough garlic it doesn't count!