Pig Trotters – Version 2.0

I’ve got a batch of Pig Trotters in Aspic on the go at the moment and I thought that I should share with you a refinement that I’ve introduced to the process. The result shouldn’t taste any different, but the new process will be a great hit with everybody who shares your living space.

The delight with which each new portion of Zimne Noszki is greeted is somewhat tempered by the grumbles which I hear during the 5 hours or so that the pork is being boiled. Boiling pigs trotters fills the house with steam, but during the first couple of hours the steam is really foul smelling. I’ve now developed a trick which gets rid of the noxious odour altogether.

Thoroughly scrub and shave the pigs trotters and pork knuckles as before and then – here comes the new bit – rub salt into the skin. Put them into the cooking pot, add boiling water from the kettle and add an egg cup of wine vinegar. Boil thoroughly for 5 minutes and then (carefully – usual disclaimer about self injury applies) pour away this first water. It’s probably safer to take out the pig trotters from the pot before doing this – a 10 litre pot 2/3 full of boiling water and pig’s trotters is potentially lethal. Then continue as before.