With the high price of pork, ham and bacon, it’s a good thing to know that every part of the pig is good eating, right down to the squeal. Spareribs, jowls, liver, kidney, yes, even the ears and tails, every one of them as good as “poke chops” in its way.
In most foreign countries pigs’ ears and tails are highly esteemed, but they’ve never been popular in America, except down South where white landowners threw them to their slaves, who, from necessity, learned to make delicious dishes out of things their white masters considered offal. And this mistake exists down to this day when slaughter houses market everything but the chops and tenderloin for almost anything they’ll bring. But certain butchers specialize in such choice tidbits as hogs’ jowls, chitterlings, and harslet, the pluck of the animal which includes heart, lungs and liver. Ten cents a pound is the price, just now, but let some smart promoter get to work on them and they’ll go skyrocketing, for from this raw material at which the snooty turn up their noses, the tastiest dishes are made. It’s all a matter of education, as is easily seen in the fact that calf’s liver and sweetbreads not so many years ago were given away or sold for next to nothing, until vitamin hunters brought calf's liver up to 80¢ a pound and doctors prescribed sweetbreads to a growing class of millionaire gourmets, who thought it was good for their own giblets, brains, or something.
So don’t stop at anything edible, and here are some appetizing ways to use the unpopular parts of a pig.
This recipe is played in halves, like a football game.
Boil the jowls half an hour in salted water, then put the greens in and boil everything together for the second half.
Salt and pepper at the finish, pep up the greens with vinegar or lemon juice and add a little butter if you like.
This dish that came out of the poverty of the Negroes in slave days was quickly appropriated by the whites, so when you see a testimonial to Southern cooking today by some of the great native eaters like Irvin S. Cobb, you’ll usually find them rooting for hogs’ jowls and turnip greens or some other humble dish such as pigs’ ears boiled with mustard greens, according to recipes worked out in plantation days when the master got the ham and tenderloin and the slave got the squeal.
There are dozens of variations that may be rung on this simple recipe and all of them excellent. Here are some:
Pig’s Snoot and Collards Hog Maws, Southern Style
Pig Tails and Poke Greens, Cabbage or Brussels Sprouts Salt Pork and Beet Greens Neck Bones and Virginia Collards Pigs’ Feet and Alabama Mustard Greens
Such specialties are easiest to find in the Negro sections of big cities, like New York’s Harlem, which, in spite of its poverty, enjoys an exceptional cuisine that would make a Park Avenuer’s taste buds come to full bloom if he ever got the chance to taste it: spareribs and turnip tops for example, every part of the pig with all kinds of greens, from poke salad to sorrel, which is plain sour grass to us but an exhilarating herb to all Frenchmen.
In fact, about the only Negro dish that some folks can’t go, is chitterlings, but when they’re young and tender as “newmown spaghetti ” they’re tops, either plain or with turnip tops. Any chitterling fan will walk a mile for them.
Another great contribution of the slaves is crackling—and here’s a tip for a perfect appetizer: render the pig fat next to the skin in juicy mouthfuls, and serve it sizzling, just plain crackling, with a touch of salt.
Pig’s liver is so luscious that many people who can afford the difference in price really prefer it to calf's liver which costs four times as much. To our mind it has beef liver beat a mile; although it is about as dry, it’s much more tender. You might like to try pig’s liver in place of beef in the Beef Liver Pattie recipe given under “Swell Pickings.”
But the most popular way of cooking the liver of any old hog is to fry it plain, using plenty of fat to overcome that natural dryness.
Because this is a favorite in Negro Harlem the price is held high by whites who own most of the butcher shops, but elsewhere, especially on the fringes of wealthy white sections, pig’s liver is a drug on the market and sells even lower than that of beef or lamb. And of course we all relish it without knowing it, for the fine flavor of commercial liverwurst comes from just that, since pig’s liver is used in this almost exclusively. But don’t buy a pig’s liver in a poke, for it’s not handled as carefully as the more expensive livers. Punch it to make sure it’s firm; see that it’s bright red in color, and fresh, with very little odor. It deteriorates rapidly and when kept too long becomes soft and dark-colored around the edges. And in cooking, never wash it, but wipe it clean with a damp cloth before removing skin and veins. Tough liver should be parboiled 20 minutes if it’s to be cooked whole, or 5 minutes if already sliced.
Have bones of 6 feet split lengthwise by butcher, leaving each two halves attached; scrape, and soak in cold water 3-4 hours. Drain, cover with cold water, add a sliced carrot, a sliced onion, a dozen peppercorns, a sprig of celery, another of thyme and one bay leaf. Simmer and skim until very tender, adding salt while cooking.
At this point they are prepared for cooking in any way you like, grilling, pickling, or jellying. If your family is large it will pay you to use 12 feet and double the recipe, and if small you might save out 3 of the feet for jellying or pickling and grill the other 3, as follows:
Drain, lay on a dish to cool somewhat, cut the skin holding the bones together, season each half-foot, rub with butter or oil, roll in crumbs and fry or grill until brown on all sides. Meanwhile fry a minced onion brown and tender, add some of the boiling liquor, cook for a moment, add a tablespoon of vinegar, a small minced pickle and cayenne pepper. Serve with this sauce poured over, or in a boat for each diner to help himself.
Cook feet according to first half of recipe above. While still hot lay in a bowl, season with salt and cayenne. Heat vinegar to boiling point with spices and pour over feet, cover, and leave until next day, turning them over several times.
A better way to pickle pigs’ feet, however, is to begin with uncooked feet, split in halves and soaked for several hours in cold water. To every 6 feet you add 3 cups of vinegar and bring to boiling point. Skim, add 2 medium onions, 2 bay leaves, 20 peppercorns and 1½ teaspoons salt, boil slowly for 2½ hours, or put in fireless cooker for longer time.
Let them cool and serve cold in their own juicy jelly.
Potato salad is the ideal accompaniment to this melodic snack, and beer, of course.
The only reason for pickling pigs’ feet yourself is to save money on a good-sized quantity, enough to pay for the beer maybe. If only 2 or 3 are wanted it’s cheaper to buy them at a delicatessen.
Peppercorns should be bought by the pound in bulk (and the same holds true for Hungarian paprika), since the packaged kinds are no better and cost many times as much by weight. But usually only foreign shops keep peppercorns (or paprika) in bulk. Ground pepper is largely a racket, in which all kinds of inferior peppers and adulterant bird seeds are concealed, so it’s best to buy the whole round pepper berries and grind them yourself, or pound up in a cloth But in this recipe only the whole peppers give the proper flavor. The black kind give you the most pep for your money. Black pepper is fully ripened on the tree, while white pepper is picked green, hence milder in flavor, and chiefly used in salads, such as white potato salad in which black pepper specks are too conspicuous. So if you want to do the thing right, use black peppers in the pigs’ feet and white peppers for the accompanying potato salad, but don’t put any kind of pepper in the beer.
Split in half, egg and crumb them, and broil. Eat with lemon juice and cayenne, or with a piquant sauce.
Boil feet according to first half of first recipe. Take out bones and cut up meat; strain cooking liquor through cloth, season and spice to taste with cayenne, a few grains powdered cloves, a tablespoon of your favorite condiment, and juice of a lemon. Heat, to blend seasonings, and reduce by boiling if you think necessary; lay meat in a mold, pour liquor over, cool and chill. Unmold on platter and decorate with servings of potato salad laid on lettuce leaves, cut-up dill pickle, red radishes, and slices of pickled beets.
Cut up both feet and ears, simmer in water to barely cover, with 1 teaspoon sage, 3 sprigs parsley or of dried herbs, peppercorns, and ¼ teaspoon ground mace, salting while cooking. Take out bones of feet when done, arrange meat in a mold, strain liquid through very fine sieve, pour over meat, cool and chill.
Cut in two, each half being as big as your hand and as white as snow. Grill in a slightly greased frying pan; they will be done in no time. Season and eat with spinach, sauerkraut or cabbage. They may be cooked like pigs’ feet, too, or cooked with the feet, slicing the ears when done; and like pigs’ feet they may then be either pickled or served hot with their gravy; or they may be allowed to cool, and then egged, crumbed and fried.
Slowly brown pounds of tails in a little fat, with a chopped onion; season with pepper and ¼ teaspoon sage or thyme to each pound of tails. Add 1 cup boiling water, cover closely and simmer very slowly until tender, salting while cooking.
Split kidney, remove skin and core, cut in ¼ inch slices, season and dredge with flour. Heat 2 tablespoons bacon fat, brown a minced onion in it and a clove of garlic if you wish, then brown the kidney slices. They will make their own gravy, which is better if ¼ cup of strained tomatoes is added.
Trim some of the fat from 4 pork chops, season with salt and pepper, and lay in a baking dish. Cover with thin slices of greening apples; sprinkle with a very little sugar, just to make the apples brown, and dot with butter. Bake in a hot oven until apples begin to get tender, then pour in sufficient cider to make a gravy. Bake another half hour.
6 chops seasoned with salt and pepper, dredged with flour and fried in hot fat. Parboil 1 pound sauerkraut. Remove chops from frying pan, put in kraut and fry until brown. Serve with chops and mashed potatoes.
Make a stuffing of minced ham or left-over meat, bread crumbs and onions, or use any preferred mixture. Pile some of the mixture in center of a thin pork chop, lay another on top, sandwich-wise, press together and fasten well with toothpicks. Fry in butter or bacon fat, or bake in gravy.
Soak beans over night, parboil and then cook until nearly tender. Or open 2 cans of pork and beans. Mix cut-up spareribs with sauerkraut and peppercorns and simmer in own juices for ½ hour. Stir in the beans, with a little of their liquor, imbed the potatoes in the mixture, and simmer 40 minutes. Taste before potatoes are done and add salt carefully, the amount needed depending on how salty the kraut is. This dish is not worth making unless eight people are to be served.
Do not cut them up. Rub with garlic, sprinkle well with pepper and lemon juice, and let stand half an hour. Put under medium grill and turn often, seasoning with salt while grilling.
Fry a large onion in bacon fat or butter. Slice another and boil without covering. Mash both together through a sieve. Heat pork slices in bacon fat or butter, pour onions over and simmer a few minutes, seasoning with a little salt, and pepper to taste.