Sunday 5 April 2015

Pig's trotter 'Pierre Koffmann'

Dish as in the book


Something unique about this post is that I'm writing it as the dish is being put together. I don't mean I have my laptop perched on the work surface while I have a pig's foot in my other hand of course, more because this is possibly the longest recipe in the book in terms of preparation time.

This dish pretty much symbolised the 80's. Copied by many chefs to some degree or another, the pig's trotter stuffed with morels, sweetbreads and onions has become a thing of legend. Marco first saw this dish while working for the dish's supposed creator, Pierre Koffmann, at La Tante Claire in Chelsea (now of course the rather brilliant Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road).

I have lost count of the amount of times I've viewed the preparation of this dish on the 'Marco cooks for Raymond Blanc' Youtube video. Watching carefully as Marco weaves his way around a pig's trotter like he's slicing an onion.

So how's about cooking it then? Well, the dish comprises a few elements that you most likely won't find on any supermarket shelves outside of London. Morel mushroom's I've come across a few times at places like Harrods and Harvey Nichols who both sell them in their food section's at around £20 for 20g. I decided to get mine from Souschef.co.uk who stock a wide range of food's and equipment that are tricky to get hold of through normal retailers.
Mirepoix for the trotters



Veal sweetbreads are another difficult thing to find, even my trusty local butcher could only get them by the kilo at £45 and to be honest I didn't fancy taking the risk. Luckily online I came across Kimbers Farm shop based in the West Country who sell the sweetbreads at a very reasonable price and don't charge the earth to deliver them, sadly they were out of stock last week but kept their promise to call me as soon as they came back into stock and within a day they were with me, top service.

Pig's trotters seem to be an issue for many people to find, not many butchers tend to stock them around here but one such place in Leicester Market (one of the best in Europe, its true!) does have them by the bucket load, head to Clay's butchers and you shall not be disappointed.

After soaking the trotters for 24 hours the task at hand is to singe any remaining hair with a blowtorch, remove the skin, taking great care not to put the knife through it, complete a degree in advanced surgery, and then separate the trotter bone from the foot at the ankle joint, simple enough so far?

Taking the skin off the shin end of the trotter isn't too bad, straight forward even, the big test comes when you make the discovery the skin won't budge and the sight of pig knuckles greets you masked by a jungle of tendons and white gristle.

The easiest way I found was to move the knuckle back and forth to detect where the joints in the foot meet. Once you have established this carefully snip the sinews between the joints to loosen and then keep following this around the whole knuckle before taking the whole thing in a cloth and ripping it back over itself.

I can't stress highly enough the need for a sharp knife as it makes life so much easier with this kind of butchery, but one thing I couldn't have done without was the cloth, as you work your way around the sinews and knuckle end the meat tends to go a little greasy so by cleaning off with a cloth every so often you get a better view of what you're cutting at.
Trotters pre-blowtorching
Boned out trotters



Minutes of twisting, turning and swearing later the whole foot came off the bone with a delightful crack, cutting the last sinew was like an umbilical cord moment, eureka! We have a trotter. Apologies for lack of pictures of the boning action (giggidy) but in the interest of food hygiene I kept my camera in my pocket.

 
While the trotters were cooking away in a concoction of mirepoix (carrot, celery, onion) thyme, bay leaf, white wine and veal stock, it was time for a bit more butchery with sweetbreads the opposition this time. I've never come into contact with sweetbreads before but I have heard that they are notoriously difficult to strip of any membrane.


Prep for the stuffing


Luck was on my side as fresh from the pig's trotter debacle I swept through the sweetbread with relative ease, once again a sharp knife is a must for this. Saving the trimmings for the sauce it was simply a case of heating up hot oil in a pan and searing the sweetbreads until coloured and crunchy, add in some onion and a heap of morels and drain. The smell of these ingredients cooking together was one of the most powerful and enjoyable prior to adding a pinch of salt and pepper then the smell lit up the whole house, amazing.

Sweetbreads browning


Completed filling
 
 
To bind the stuffing together you make a mousse out of chicken breast, mace (I used allspice), salt, egg and double cream. Once everything is chilled down ice cold you place the stuffing into the cooled trotters, roll up in buttered foil into its original shape and chill in the fridge.


Trotters ready for stuffing


 
Day three of the recipe combines all the finishing touches, the sauce (made from chicken legs, shallots, mushrooms, herbs, veal and chicken stocks, three types of alcohol and morels) the basic mashed potatoes and the cooking of the trotter.

I began by making the sauce through the normal methods, add chicken pieces to a hot pan along with sweetbread trimmings, when brown simply add the remaining vegetables and herbs deglazing with sherry vinegar, cognac and madeira before adding the stocks and water and reducing for 20 minutes.


Sauce prep!


Pomme puree was made by boiling potatoes until tender and then blitzing in a processor with softened butter (around half butter to weight of potatoes!) and double cream with seasoning resulting in a mash smoother than James Bond after the closest of shaves.
 

Straining the sauce a few times through a cloth-lined sieve while the trotters boiled away in their foil blankets left nothing more but to plate up.


A handy way to keep pomme puree warm! Trotters simmering below.
 



Unwrapping the trotters I was pretty happy with the colour. I know many have struggled with the pale appearance after the three hour cooking but these were nice and dark. The stuffing had stayed in place and the smell coming off the whole thing was intoxicating.

Adding the pomme puree, a few morels by way of garnish and the sauce, finished with a few drops of fresh lemon juice and double cream, completed the dish.



The final plate


So after three days and endless butchery, how was it? Delicious, you will be pleased to know. The sweetbreads, morels and onion mixture seemed to morph into one great flavour, like a smokey, creamy kind of taste with the texture of the sweetbreads, most brilliant. The skin of the trotter was melt in the mouth stuff and full of flavour, very underrated. The sauce I felt I could have reduced a touch more but the taste and seasoning of it were spot on for my palate. The puree is just incredible, and so easy to make, well worth all the effort.

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