Best Pigs Ears Recipes

HOG'S TROTTERS AND EARS

Steps:

• Place the pig's feet and ears into a large pot along with fennel, carrots, sage, tarragon, rosemary, onions, bay leaves, celery and lemons, and then cover ingredients with vegetable stock or water. Bring to a rolling boil and then immediately reduce the heat. Simmer for a minimum of 6 hours, testing for tenderness with a knife as you go. The ears will be cooked before the feet, so remove them sooner or add them to the pot later. When the flesh is tender, remove the pot from the heat and let it rest in the cooking liquid for 20 minutes.
• Serve the cooked trotters and ears with a ladle-full of broth from the pot and some crispy French bread.

HOME MADE SOUSE

Steps:

• Place tongues, pig's ears, pig's feet, and onions in a large stock pot; add water to cover. Season with salt, pepper, whole peppercorns, sage, cloves, bay leaves, pickling spice, garlic powder and vinegar. Bring to a boil, and cook until meat is cooked, about 2 1/2 hours.
• Remove meat; set aside to cool. Strain broth, and measure 8 cups into another pot. Return broth to stove, and let simmer.
• Peel skin from ears, leaving the ear as intact as possible. Place the ears aside. Remove gristle and fat from pig's feet, and combine with ear trimmings. Cut off large portion of tongue and set aside. Trim loose meat from remainder of tongue, and combine with other trimmings. Put trimmings through a coarse meat grinder, then stir into broth; continue to simmer.
• Slice tongues into thin strips, and place lengthwise into 2 glass loaf pans, 9x5x3 inches. Slice ears into thin strips, then cut the strips into 1/2 inch pieces. Arrange the ear pieces among the tongue strips. Divide the pimiento and pepperoncini between the two molds. Sprinkle with pickle relish.
• Dissolve gelatin in 1 cup water. Stir into the simmering broth. Carefully ladle enough broth into each mold to completely cover the meat. Prod with a fork to uniformly distribute. Let stand 15 minutes, then cover with remaining broth. Allow to cool at room temperature, until they begin to jell, 2 to 3 hours. Refrigerate for 8 to 10 hours.
• When cool, run a thin knife around the sides of the mold to release the souse. Remove any fat that has accumulated on the surface.

PIGS' EARS

Steps:

• Rinse the ears under cold running water. Place in a large saucepan with remaining ingredients. Add enough cold water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook, covered, for 2 hours. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. Remove ears from cooking liquid, and use as desired.