Theme Recipe: Crubeens

What the hell are "crubeens"??  Well it's an Irish preparation for pigs feet.  As traditional pub fare, they are traditionally served as a companion to Drisheen.  I posted a recipe for those a few weeks back when we were watching the vampires of "True Blood."  For that post, if you are brave enough that is, click here.  The most traditional way of serving them is cold with a pint of ale or good beer.  But with most foods of this vein, there are multiple ways of serving them and nearly endless variations on the the basic recipe.  I've giving the most basic with variation ideas and service expansion.

6 pig trotters (that's feet to us here in the US), or one per guest if they are to be an appetizer
1 large onion
1 large carrot
1 tsp. sea salt (like Maldon)
6 black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
Some thyme (fresh or dried)
Handful of parsley


Add all ingredients and bring to rolling boil, skim well and turn the heat down.  Cover and simmer slowly for 3 hours.  They can be eaten straight from the pot, hot with some homemade brown soda bread and Guinness.  

They can be served cold.  If this is the plan, removed the simmered crubeens from the hot stock, allow the stock to come to room temperature, place the pig feet back into the stock and refrigerate overnight.  [Note:  the stock is worth saving, strain, reduce it a bit by boiling for 10 minutes, allow to cool and freeze.]  You can spice them up, by adding some dried chilies to the cooking pot (as in above photo with de Arbol chiles), this is especially good if they crubeens are to be served cold or at room temperature.  If putting on an appetizer buffet, a handsome way to serve them is to lay them on a bed of lettuce leaves, like Boston lettuce, garnish with lemon slices or twists and some whole fresh parsley.  Some pubs like to serve them with a beetroot salad--which is easy to do, if you add a good vinaigrette and some onion to canned or pickled beets.

When served in restaurants, the crubeens are deboned, rolled highly seasoned egg and then in breadcrumbs and/or rolled oats and grilled or fried.  These are most often served with Guinness, but claret (a good red wine--Bordeaux) is often served with them.

These are good with soda bread and a chopped Irish style green salad, that includes, amongst the greens some diced cucumber, green pepper and celery, with a cream dressing that includes just a little mustard.