EATING FROM CHEEK TO TROTTER

About the pig it’s said, “Everything but the squeal.” Or, in Spanish, “del cerdo, hasta los andares.”  Everything but its waddle. From the pig come fine cuts such as loin chops and tenderloin, big leg joints to turn into hams, bacon! but also extremities and innards. Nose to tail eating. Or, this week in my kitchen, cheek to trotter.

Pig's trotter, split in half.

I like pig’s tripe, especially in a robust potaje with chickpeas, trotter, ears and sausage. I like tongue, too, and I sort of like pigs’ feet (trotters, manos in Spanish). But, frankly, I don’t care for pig’s liver, nor any other pig’s offal. (Although I’m partial to calves’ liver and lamb’s kidneys.)

One of my favorite parts of the pig is the cheek (carrillada or carrillera), a collop of flesh from the jaw. Well-exercised (from chewing), it needs long, slow braising to turn it into a tender, flavorful morsel. If the cheeks are from the ibérico pig, they are even better. (In the US, you can buy fresh ibérico pork cheeks from La Tienda and from Wagshal's.)

Ibérico pork cheeks, ready to braise.

Braised pork cheeks served with butternut squash sauté and olive oil fried potatoes.

 Carrilladas de Cerdo Ibérico Guisadas
Braised Ibérico Pork Cheeks 

The cheeks will shrink considerably during cooking. The braising vegetables are pureed to thicken the sauce.

Serves 4.

1 ½ - 2 pounds pork cheeks (about 12 pieces)
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup chopped leek or onion
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon pimentón de la Vera (smoked paprika)
½ cup fino (dry) Sherry
1 ½ cups chicken or meat stock
Sprigs of thyme, rosemary, bay leaf and celery

Remove excess fat from the cheeks. Wash them and pat dry. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a cazuela or braising pot. Brown the meat on both sides. Remove.

Add the carrot, leek and garlic to the pot and sauté until onion begins to brown, 5 minutes. Stir in the pimentón and immediately add the Sherry. Raise the heat to cook off the alcohol, then add the stock. Tie the thyme, rosemary, bay and celery together and add to the pot. Taste the liquid and add additional salt if necessary. Return the meat to the pot.

Simmer the meat, covered, turning it from time to time, until it is very tender, about 1 ½ hours.

Remove the pork cheeks to a plate. Discard the herbs. Puree the pan juices and vegetables in a blender to make a smooth sauce. Return the sauce and cheeks to the pot and reheat the meat gently. 

After braising, pork cheeks are tender and succulent.

 

Slow-Cooked Pigs’ Feet
Manos de Cerdo Estofadas

I finally “get it” about pigs’ feet, after various experiments in eating them and cooking them. They fall into the same category as snails—the sauce is so delicious that it makes preparing something a little oddball, with a weird texture to boot, worth all the trouble. Pigs’ feet have a lip-sticking, gelatinous texture that either you are crazy for or else you don’t want to know.

I consulted various recipes for cooking pigs’ feet. Invariably, they instructed me to boil the trotters, remove the bones, and cut up the “meat.”

Well, let me tell you, that pigs’ feet don’t have “meat.” Meat is, really, muscle, and feet don’t have muscle. They have thick skin and gelatinous cartilage. The broth they cook in, which sets up into a firm gelatin, makes a serious soup or sauce. The “meat,” cut into bits and stewed in a flavorful sauce is unctuous, a little slippery, and ever so delicious. (If you want a meatier version, add 4 ounces of pork shoulder meat to cook with the trotters.) Serve the pigs’ feet very hot with lots of fresh bread for sopping up the sauce.

Note: choricero and ñora peppers are dried sweet peppers. The choricero is long and skinny; the ñora is round and plum-sized. If not available, use additional pimentón in the recipe.

Serves 4.

4 pigs’ feet (trotters), split in half (4-4 ½  pounds)
2 leeks, white part only
3 carrots
1 dry choricero pepper or 3 ñora peppers (optional)
2 bay leaves
½ teaspoon peppercorns
3 cloves
1 tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves chopped garlic
2 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon hot pimentón or pinch of cayenne
1 to 3 teaspoons pimentón dulce
2 tablespoons red wine
Parsley to garnish

Put the pigs’ feet in a large stew pot with water to cover. Bring to a boil, boil 5 minutes, and drain.

Rinse out the pot and put the trotters in with fresh water to cover. Bring to a boil. Add the leeks, carrots, choricero peppers, bay leaves, peppercorns, cloves, 1 tablespoon salt, and vinegar. When the pot boils, cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until pigs’ feet are fork-tender, about 2 hours.

Lift the pigs’ feet out of the broth. When they are cool enough to handle, remove all the bones and thick parts of the skin and discard them. Cut the remaining meat, skin, and cartilage into bite-size pieces. Skim out the carrots and choricero peppers and reserve. Discard the bay leaves.

If using the choricero or ñora peppers, split them open and scrape the pulp with the blunt edge of a knife. Save the pulp and discard the skins.

When the broth cools, skim off and discard the fat that comes to the surface.

Heat the oil in a deep skillet and sauté the onions until they begin to brown, 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté 2 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the flour. Add the pulp of the choricero peppers plus the hot pimentón and 1 teaspoon of sweet pimentón. (If not using the choricero peppers, stir in 1 tablespoon of sweet pimentón.)

Stir in gradually 2 cups of the broth in which the trotters cooked. Add remaining ½ teaspoon salt. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens. Return the reserved meat to the sauce. Simmer, covered, 30 minutes.

Slice the reserved carrots and add to the sauce. Heat. Serve the pigs’ feet with sauce very hot, garnished with chopped parsley.

Slow-cooked pork cheeks are fork-tender.

THE SAUSAGE SPECIAL, WITH A SIDE OF—LENTILS!

I haven’t quite finished with my porky extravaganza (see previous posts on pork loin and chorizo sausage). This week I’m enjoying salchicha, fresh pork link sausage. But, I’m giving equal time and place on the plate to a vegetarian lentil dish that can be served on its own or as a side with the sausages.

 

Sherry-glazed sausages, lentils and crisp salad--great lunch dish.

Salchicha is a fresh sausage that must be kept refrigerated and cooked before eating. It’s similar to the breakfast links you’re probably familiar with or to sweet Italian sausage.

Salchichas--fresh pork sausage.

The Spanish version consists of pork meat and fat ground together; seasoned with salt, lots of white or black pepper, nutmeg, garlic, oregano and parsley, and stuffed in sausage casings. It’s ready to eat immediately, without curing time. Fresh link sausage is also sometimes called longaniza blanca. Another version, called salchicha criolla or longaniza roja has pimentón (paprika) and hot pimentón or chile as well.

Salchicha can be fried, grilled or simmered in soups.  I’ve prepared an easy version, frying the sausages, then simmering them with fino Sherry, a dish often served in tapa bars. The lentils along with a salad with a sharp citrus dressing make great side dishes. Or, hold the sausages and serve the lentils as the main event.

Sausages with Sherry
Salchichas al Jerez

If the sausage pieces are to be served as a tapa, cut the links into 1 ½ -inch pieces.

Serves 4-6 as part of a meal, or 10-12 as a tapa.

Sausages as tapa.

1 pound fresh pork link sausage
½ tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup dry Sherry
Chopped parsley

Heat the oil in a skillet and brown the sausage pieces on all sides. Add the Sherry and cook on a medium heat for 3 minutes until the sausages are slightly glazed. Serve the sausages with the pan juices, sprinkled with parsley.

Don Quixote’s Friday Lentils
Lentejas Viudas

Vegetarian lentils get flavor from a sofrito of vegetables.

Lentils are what Don Quixote ate on Fridays. Or, so Cervantes tells us in the first paragraph of the novel. Because it was Friday—usually a day of abstinence from meat in the Catholic Church—they were certainly lentils viudas, “widowed,” bereft of meat or sausage. Nevertheless, well flavored with the olive oil of the region, garlic, onions, and spices such as cumin and pepper, they were probably a substantial and tasty meal.

Pardina lentils.

Use the tiny dark brown pardina lentils for this dish, which is served “dry,” not soupy. Small Puy green lentils could be used as well. With a salad and bread, lentils make a fine vegetarian meal. They are also a good side dish with duck, ham or pork. (Another recipe for lentils is here.)

A splash of vinegar or lemon juice at the end of cooking really jacks up the flavor of lentils.

 

Serves 4 as a main dish or 6 to 8 as a side dish.

1 pound small brown lentils (about 2 ½ cups)
1-inch piece of lemon zest, slivered
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
6 cups water
¼ teaspoon saffron threads, crushed (optional)
3 tablespoons olive oil + additional to serve
1 ½ cup diced carrots
1 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup diced celery
1/3 cup chopped red bell pepper
3 cloves garlic, chopped
¼ teaspoon whole cumin seed
Pinch of ground cloves
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar
1 hard-cooked egg, chopped (optional)
Lemon wedges to serve

Place the lentils in a pot or cazuela and add water, slivered zest, bay leaves and salt. Bring to a boil and cook, covered, for 8 minutes. Drain the lentils, saving the liquid. Discard the bay leaves.

If using saffron, soak it in 2 tablespoons hot water for 15 minutes.

Heat the oil in a pot or cazuela and sauté the carrots, onion, celery and red pepper for 3 minutes. Add garlic and sauté 5 minutes. Add the cumin seed and sauté 1 minute.

Stir in the lentils and 2 cups of the reserved liquid. Add the cloves, pepper, saffron, and additional salt, if necessary. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes, or until lentils and carrots are tender. Add additional liquid as needed to keep the lentils from scorching on the bottom. Add vinegar and cook 3 minutes longer. Allow to stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil over the lentils immediately before serving. If desired, serve them garnished with chopped egg. Serve with lemon wedges to squeeze into the lentils.

Lentils make a satisfying meal.

Citrus Salad Dressing

Use this dressing on salad greens, on cooked vegetables such as beets, carrots or asparagus, or on grilled fish fillets.

Oranges add a sweet tang.

1 orange
1 tablespoon Sherry vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped scallions
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Grate a little orange zest into a small bowl. Peel the orange removing all the white pith. Cut the sections free from membranes and chop the sections. Add to the bowl. Stir in the vinegar, oil, scallions, salt and pepper. 

PIGGING OUT

Chorizo to feed a crowd.

It’s pig-out week! A pre-Lenten time of pig butchering and celebration of all foods porcine. Last week I was eating high-off-the-hog with marinated pork loin. This week I’m making chorizo, Spain’s most distinctive sausage.

Back when I was developing recipes for the cookbook, MY KITCHEN IN SPAIN (HarperCollins 2002), Spanish chorizo was still very difficult to find in the United States. Intending to include a recipe for making chorizo in the book, I experimented with sausage-making in my kitchen.

Seasoning for chorizo.

I got natural sausage casings from my butcher, who also ground up the pork belly for me. To season it, I used three kinds of pimentón (paprika)—regular sweet pimentón, smoked pimentón and hot pimentón picante, along with garlic, oregano, salt and pepper. (More about pimentón here.)

To stuff the sausages I used a simple plastic pastry bag with a ½-inch nozzle. Having tied off the bottom of the casing with cotton string, I eased the casing onto the nozzle, filled the funnel with the sausage mixture and pressed the plunger to force it into the casing. It worked just fine. I tied-off the sausage in 4-inch links.

I hung the chorizos from a rod in a well-ventilated, unheated shower room for a  week, then cooked them on the grill and in cocidos and potajes (soups and stews).

By the time the cookbook was edited, chorizo had become widely available, so my recipe was left out of the book.

This week, I’m not making real sausages in casings. I’m making the spiced chorizo meat mix, then using it as sausages, patties, and picadillo, ground meat for stuffing.

For how to make “real” Spanish chorizo, both semi-cured and dry-cured, for both professional cooks and dedicated amateurs, see CHARCUTERÍA--THE SOUL OF SPAIN by Jeffrey Weiss (Surrey Books-Agate; 2014). Here you'll find detailed instructions about equipment and the “secrets and science of charcutería “ (precise measurements and exact temperatures make a difference), with the curing salts needed for safe processing and where to get them.

But, back to my home kitchen.

Chorizo Casero
Home-Made Chorizo Sausage

Panceta--pork belly.

Fat is what makes sausage juicy. The greater the proportion of fat to lean, the juicier will be the sausage. My local butcher suggested using all panceta, which is pork belly, fresh uncured bacon, a cut which is almost equally fat and lean. (Yes, in Spanish it's panceta, not pancetta.) You could also combine equal parts lean pork with pork fat.

Have the butcher grind the pork belly or use a meat grinder (food processor doesn’t work well).

La prueba del chorizo--taste-testing for seasoning.

After mixing the meat with the spices, refrigerate it for 24 hours to allow flavors to develop. Then, make a small patty of meat and fry it in a small skillet, about  2 minutes on each side or until cooked through. This is the prueba de chorizo, the taste-test. Does the mix need more salt? If you have used the lesser amount given (½ tablespoon), it probably does! Adjust the seasoning, then fry another prueba to taste.

Instead of sausage casings, this chorizo is wrapped in cheesecloth.

At this point the sausage is ready to cook. I wrapped some of it in cheesecloth and tied-off links resembling sausages. I made meatballs with some to drop into lentil soup. I used some to stuff onions (recipe below). The chorizo keeps, covered and refrigerated, for up to a week.

The recipe makes about 16 (2-ounce) sausages.

2 pounds pork belly (panceta), coarsely ground
4 cloves garlic, chopped
¼ cup dry white wine
½-1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoons sweet pimentón (paprika)
1 tablespoon sweet pimentón de la Vera (smoked)
1 tablespoon (hot) pimentón picante
1 teaspoon oregano
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
pinch of ground cloves
¼ cup water

Ground pork belly mixed with spices and salt.

Place the meat in a large non-reactive bowl (glass or earthenware). In a blender combine the garlic, wine, salt, pimentón, oregano, pepper, cloves and water. Add this mixture to the meat. Use a mixer with a paddle attachment, a wooden spoon or hands (sterile surgical gloves can be used) to thoroughly mix the spice mixture into the ground meat.

Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Test the mix for seasoning. Fry a small patty of it until thoroughly cooked and taste it. Adjust salt and other seasoning as needed.

At this point the chorizo can be stuffed into sausage casings or made into patties or meatballs. If not to be cooked immediately, store refrigerated. Use within 1 week.

Onions stuffed with chorizo and baked with cheese on top.

Stuffed Onions
Cebollas Rellenas

Onions are a main ingredient in the making of morcilla, blood sausage. With rice or other fillers such as potatoes or even pumpkin, they are combined with fat and pigs’ blood to provide the substance of the sausage.

In Extremadura, where folks gather for the traditional pig butchering, this stuffed onion dish is traditional. The inner parts of the onion are ground up for the morcilla. Sausage mixture is used to stuff the onion shells, which are roasted until tender.

The stuffed onions make a nice starter, served with salad with a citrusy dressing.

Serves 6 as a starter or side dish.
   
6-8 medium onions (2 ½ inches diameter)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil or pork lard
1 tablespoon pine nuts
¼ teaspoon cumin seed
½  pound fresh chorizo (recipe above)
2 tablespoons white wine
1 teaspoon aguardiente (anisette liqueur), optional
1 tablespoon flour
1/3 cup (1 ounce) grated cheese (such as Manchego)

Wash the onions. Place them, unpeeled, in a pan with water to cover plus salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 15 minutes. Drain, saving 1 cup of the cooking liquid.

When cool enough to handle, remove and discard the skins. Trim the bottom root ends. Cut a thin slice off the tops. Use a spoon to hollow out the center of the onion, leaving about three outer layers intact. (Save the centers for another use.)

Picadillo--chorizo mix fried.

Heat the oil in a skillet. Fry the pine nuts and cumin seed until lightly toasted and skim them out. Add the chorizo to the pan and brown it, using a wooden spoon to break it up into small pieces. Stir in the pine nuts, cumin, wine and aguardiente, if using. Cook for 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Use a spoon to stuff the onion cavities with the chorizo mixture. Place the onions in a cazuela. Combine the flour with 1 cup of the reserved onion liquid and pour over the stuffed onions. Cover the cazuela with foil and bake for 25 minutes.

Top the onions with grated cheese, cover with foil and return to the oven for 25 minutes.

Remove foil and place under broiler for 4 minutes, until tops are browned.

Serve hot or room temperature.

Today was Día de San Antón, the festival of St. Anthony Abbot, celebrated in my village with a romería, an outing to the saint's shrine in the countryside and potaje de San Antón, a stew with chickpeas, pig tripe, trotters, ears, meat, chorizo and morcilla sausages. That big pot in the picture was one of two prepared by the women for the festival. (The recipe for potaje de San Antón is here.)

Note the glorious January sunshine.