#875 Pigs Feet

I was reading an article the other day, which was lamenting the loss of variety meats and other rare cuts. “Variety meats” is that euphemistic term for offal and organs. Tripe, liver, heart, kidneys, those parts of the animal you cut off and usually don’t use except to grind it into dog food, mostly because it so closely resembles a part of a living thing.
The overwhelming popularity of sirloin and such is because it’s hard to equate a steak with a recognizable part on an animal. A New York strip or a rump roast bears little resemblance to either Times Square or an animal derriere.
For the gustatorily squeamish, this is a good thing. It allows them to eat a good hunk of protein without imagining the carnage for a slaughterhouse.
So a big cow tongue sitting on a platter has fallen from favor. And personally, I have no desire for either kidneys or liver as these organs play a large part in the bodies of humans and animals filtering out toxins. They are essentially poison strainers.
What better cut to boil up and snack on? Hmm¾this liver’s got some punch, was the cow an alcoholic?
As testimony to how far out of flavor-favor odd meats have fallen, one of the Irish dishes mentioned in the article I’d never heard of. Crubeens. Of course I’m not Irish so it’s not too surprising but the English name “pigs trotters” was no help. I first thought it was some bowel and sausage thing.
Nope, it’s pigs feet. Not ham hocks, which are essentially pigs’ wrists. I’ve had those. Crubeens are the actual feet. Bones and all.
According to crubeen aficionados they are the most flavorful part of a pig, both bacon-y and gelatinous, as one piggy epicure put it. Yum...cut me a slice of gelatinous.
I don’t know when I’ve heard a more appetizing description. My Mrs. Brown, this dish is so gelatinous, how did you get the peculiar mixture of sliminess and turgidity to such perfection?
I suppose for a guy that eats cuts of meat named after loins I shouldn’t be so particular.
But I’ll skip the trotters.
America, ya gotta love it.