Please don’t turn your nose up at the thought of these – just try them! You’ll find the trotters are so tasty and full of flavour. This is the best-ever version of ‘meat paste’, something I remember from when I was a kid. This mix is also a great stuffing for roast pork
Serves 4–6
2 large pig’s trotters, about 600g each
1.2 litres Brown Chicken Stock (see here)
4 celery sticks, halved
1 carrot, peeled and halved
1 onion, quartered
8 star anise
2 tablespoons white peppercorns
100ml water
50g caster sugar
freshly squeezed juice of 1 lemon
75g butter
3 banana shallots, finely chopped
2 tablespoons rapeseed oil
175g smoked streaky bacon in one piece, cut into lardons
4 tablespoons finely chopped ready-to-eat dried apple
2 tablespoons prepared English mustard
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon ground mace
salt and pepper, to taste
2 Granny Smith apples, to serve
4 slices of sourdough bread, toasted, to serve
Singe the pig’s trotters with a blowtorch to remove any hairs. Place them into a large saucepan, cover with water and bring to the boil, then drain. Repeat this process two more times to remove any impurities.
Return the trotters to the pan, add the brown chicken stock, celery, carrot, onion, star anise and white peppercorns and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to very low and leave to simmer, uncovered, for 2½–3 hours until the trotters are tender. Turn off the heat and leave the trotters to cool in the stock.
Meanwhile, put the water and sugar in saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. As soon as it boils, remove the pan from the heat and add the lemon juice. Leave to cool completely, then place in the fridge until needed.
When the trotters are cool, remove them from the stock and flake the meat and skin into a mixing bowl. Pass the stock through a fine sieve into the washed pan, place over a high heat and boil until the stock has reduced by half.
Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the shallots and fry, stirring, for 3–5 minutes until softened. Tip them into the bowl with the trotter meat.
Heat the oil in the pan over a medium heat. Add the lardons and fry, stirring, for about 2–3 minutes until browned and crispy. Use a slotted spoon to transfer these to the bowl with the trotter meat. Add the dried apples, mustard, sherry vinegar, mace and salt and pepper. Shred together with a fork and season, adding a little of the cooking stock to make the mix moist. The trotter mixture can stay in the fridge until needed or be used straight away.
Just before you are ready to serve, slice the Granny Smith apples on a Japanese mandoline. Put them into the stock syrup mix you made earlier and leave for just a couple of seconds to prevent oxidising and to give them a sweet glaze.
Place the trotter mixture in a pan over medium heat and stir until warmed through. Divide it between the slices of toast. Place the Granny Smith slices on top and serve.