My first attempt at cooking one up, while tasty, was rather dangerous. For the second round, I wanted to try something a little less...umm...splattery.
Again I turned to The Nasty Bits, a column on Serious Eats, and decided to go for Pig's Ear on a Hot Griddle, a recipe adapted from The River Cottage Cookbook by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall (a book that I would steal without compunction* from my neighbor if I knew she owned it). So I pulled out my cast iron skillet and heated the bejebus out of it.
*Why is guiltlessly a word, but compunctionlessly not?
I stuck the ear into the skillet, and pressed down on it continuously with a smaller skillet, until it was browned all over and charred in spots. The recipe in the link says "thoroughly charred", but that didn't seem like it was ever going to happen. Plus, my stupid skillet isn't properly seasoned yet (it's only 8 years old), and I have a sticking problem.
Et, voilà:
The recipe says serve with mustard, but I didn't bother, mostly because I wanted to really experience the unadulterated flavor. (People will eat chocolate covered crickets, but will they eat a naked one?)
I ate the thinner crispy bits around the edges, then started to get slightly squicked by the fat in the thicker middle part. So, once again, I'm glad I tried it, and the dogs were happy.
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Oh, and in case you were wondering, there will be no Part III. Yes, there were three ears, and yes, I had a third recipe planned (the second one from the Serious Eats link above), but I goofed and boiled it along with the other two because I didn't read the recipe first. So you all lucked out.
12 comments:
I've never heard of this treatment. I'm glad it made someone happy in the end. Time to move on to snout?
Hey Stash - I'm thinking tails...
What a strange journey. I doubt my cats would eat it, so I don't think I should try them. Heh.
Hi Bob - I am amazed at some of the things my cat eats. You should try :)
Can you do much other than fry the tails? I've got some Fergus Henderson books and that looks to be the thing to do. You should def get into trotters sooner or later though :D
Apparently you can roast (breaded or not), bake then grill w/BBQ sauce, stew with sauerkraut, pickle, smoke & add to collards. Hmm, the sauerkraut route sounds interesting (plus, it rhymes).
But I'm sure trotters will be easier to find.
toss them on hot coals and serve with salt and hot sauce - tasty beyond belief!
Hi doggybloggy - You're making me want to buy another package of ears :)
This is a fantastic procedure! I was going to deep fry my pig ear (still in the freezer) but I love your method. (And I hate deep frying.)
Hey cookiecrumb - Yeah, I deep fried the first one - never again. This was better.
I am cooking whole pigs head and I am going to wrap the ears. It will be an experience. I promise to try the eyeballs.
Hey Chilebrown - What an adventure! I think I'll skip the eyeballs, though.
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