Food Network: Pig's Foot (Au Pied du Cochon)

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Pig's Foot (Au Pied du Cochon)
Recipe courtesy Chef Martin Picard, Au Pied du Cochon, Montreal, Quebec

Ingredients
Sauce:
1/2 cup minced onions
4 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 stuffed and poached pig's foot, recipe follows
1/2 cup sliced tomatoes
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup pork stock
Reserved juice from the porcini mushrooms (Stuffing, recipe follows)
Boiled potatoes, serving suggestion
3 to 4 ounces vinaigrette base, recipe follows

Salt and pepper
10 haricots verts, steamed and blanched

Instructions
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Place onions, garlic, and rosemary in the bottom of a cold saute pan. Place the
pig's foot in the center of the pan, with the smaller part of the foot down. Place
the tomatoes along 1 side of the foot and the mushrooms along the other. Pour the
pork stock and mushroom juice over the pig's foot and place the pan on the top
rack of the oven. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, basting every 3 minutes, until the
skin is crisp and golden and the center is hot (approximately 145 degrees F). Once
the pig's foot is ready, place it on a plate and cut the butcher's twine. Serve
with boiled potatoes, if desired. While you are doing this, let sauce cook over a

high flame until slightly reduced. Add the vinaigrette base, salt, pepper, and
haricots verts and stir to combine. Once you have added the vinaigrette, remove
from heat or the emulsification will break. Dress the pig's foot with the sauce
and sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper.

Stuffed Pig's Foot:
1 pig's foot (shank removed)
1 recipe Stuffing, recipe follows
1 (3 1/2-ounce) piece foie gras
Salt
Butcher's twine (10 to 15 inches)
1 larding needle
1 candle

1 gallon pork stock or other poaching liquid

Rinse the pig's foot under cold running water for 10 minutes and dry thoroughly.
Use a spoon to stuff half of the pig's foot with the Stuffing. Liberally salt the
foie gras and place it inside the pig's foot. Add the rest of the stuffing and
pack tightly. Thread the butcher's twine through the needle and heat the tip of
the needle over the candle; the hot needle will pass through the fat and skin more
easily. Sew the pig's foot shut, tying it off at 1 end and then the other.

Bring the poaching liquid to a boil, add the pig's foot, and turn off the flame.
Poach for 10 minutes or until pig's foot feels firm to the touch.

Stuffing:

2 tablespoons pork or duck fat
1/2 cup porcini mushrooms, cut into 1-inch pieces
Salt and pepper
Splash water or white wine, for deglazing
1/3 cup sliced Spanish onions
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 cloves garlic, peeled and halved
1 1/4 cup braised pork shank meat, cut into 1/2-inch cubes, recipe follows
1/4 cup braised pork foot meat, coarsely chopped, recipe follows

Heat a large saute pan over high heat until it begins to haze. Add 1 tablespoon of
pork fat and the mushrooms, making sure mushrooms are in 1 even layer. Let the
mushrooms sit in the pan, without movement, for 30 seconds or until a nice golden
color forms. Toss the mushrooms and repeat until nicely colored. Sprinkle with

salt and cook for 30 more seconds. Pour mushrooms into a sieve set over a plastic
container and set aside. Deglaze the pan with a splash of water or white wine and
pour over the mushrooms.

Reheat the pan over medium heat and add the rest of the pork fat. Add onions and
rosemary, stirring constantly so as not to form any color. Sweat the onions until
they become soft and translucent. At this point, add the garlic and cook until
fragrant. Then add cubed pork meat and toss lightly until everything is combined;
make sure the meat does not fall apart or you will lose some texture in the
stuffing. Once everything is combined, add pig foot meat, season with salt and
pepper, and turn the heat to low. As the collagen in the foot meat begins to melt,
add the reserved porcini mushrooms, reserving the liquid for the sauce. Stir
occasionally until everything is combined and evenly seasoned. Transfer stuffing
to a plate and place in the refrigerator to cool completely.

Braised Pig's Foot and Pork Shank
1 pig's foot with shank attached
1 gallon pork stock
1 carrot
1 onion
1 stalk celery
1 head garlic
10 sprigs fresh thyme
1 tablespoon black peppercorns

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

Using a boning knife, peel the skin of the shank away from the meat until you
reach the ankle. Use a saw or a cleaver to cut the bone at the ankle. Place the
pig's foot and shank in a deep pan with the pork stock, carrot, onion, celery,
garlic, thyme, and peppercorns and place in oven. Cook for 3 to 4 hours or until
the meat is falling off the bone. Once cooked, pull the shank meat off the bone
and reserve. Discard the bone. Pull the skin off the pig's foot and remove all of
the bone, reserving the meat and discarding the bone.

Vinaigrette base:
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
Salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon warm water

Put the mustard, vinegar, and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk until frothy. Slowly
drizzle in half of the oil while whisking constantly. Drizzle in the water and
then the remaining oil, while still whisking rapidly. The vinaigrette should be
light and creamy.