Trotter Gear, by Fergus Henderson

If you like pies and stews, and if you like adding that little bit of extra flavor to your hearty winter meals, then you should always have a jar of trotter gear in your fridge.

What exactly is Trotter Gear?
Trotter Gear is a rich gelatinous stock made out of pork trotters.

By adding Trotter Gear to stews, sauces or soups they become richer, creamier and more flavorful.

pig's trotters - they are in fact good for something.

I know, some of you may be grossed out by this, but I share Fergus Henderson's opinion of using all the parts of an animal, rather than just picking favorites or the best looking ones. 

A piece of steak to most people does not appear to be disgusting, at all. But pig's ears, bone marrow or beef tongue are? In the end you are eating parts of an animal, whether it is a filet mignon, trotters or gummi bears.

Don't get me wrong. I would never force someone to eat something they don't feel comfortable with.

In fact, I would have a hard time eating eyes for example. Actually, I don't think I could at all...

But I do think that by being aware where your steak and BBQ-ribs come from (a whole animal with eyes, a heart, organs and, yes, feelings) it allows you to respect and appreciate (animal) life and therefore your daily piece of meat much more.

So, here is what you need for Fergus Henderson's recipe of his so-called "Healthy Jar Of Trotter Gear":

pigs' trotters (all hair removed) 6
onions 2, peeled
carrots 2, peeled
celery 2 sticks
leeks 2, split
garlic 1 head
thyme a bundle
peppercorns a handful
Sercial Madeira ½ bottle (Sherry works fine, as well)
chicken stock enough to cover the trotters


Directions:

Shave the trotters! You want to get rid of all the stiff hairs...

Place the trotters in a large casserole. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes then drain. This removes the initial scum given off by the trotters. 

Now place the blanched trotters in the pot with the vegetables, thyme, peppercorns and Madeira and cover with the stock. Cook for at least 3 hours until the trotters are totally giving. At this point, strain the cooking liquid and keep. 

After 3 hours the pig's trotter has mutated into an alien and is ready to get pulled apart...

When the trotters are cool enough to handle (but don't let them go cold, as they become much harder to deal with), pick all the flesh, fat and skin off them tearing the skin to shreds. 

I love pulling all the flesh, skin and fat off the bone

Add to the cooking liquid, seal in a jar and refrigerate. 

You now have trotter gear – giving, wobbly trotter captured in a splendid jelly.

For more information on Fergus Henderson and how to eat the whole beast check out his books
'Nose To Tail Eating: A Kind Of British Cooking' and 'Beyond Nose To Tail', as well as his restaurant St. John in London.

Panna Cotta with Rhubarb Sauce

Yesterday we had friends over for dinner.
After we all were stuffed from the "main course" (we made burgers again) I was happy that everyone of us still had a little room left for dessert.
The burgers were already quite rich  so I originally intended to prepare something light for dessert.
Well, since Panna Cotta is based on cream and sugar it cannot really be considered as being especially light. But with all that delicious fruit sauce it doesn't seem to be heavy at all!
See? You can actually trick yourself!
I can't promise you that you can trick your scale or your skintight jeans with that, though...

Panna Cotta is very easy to make.
It doesn't require many ingredients or complicated techniques.

All you need for 4 servings is:

four small bowls
500ml cream
50g white sugar
1 vanilla bean
2,5 leaves gelatine

Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for about 5-ten minutes until soft.
Slice the vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with a teaspoon.
Pour the cream into a saucepan and mix in sugar and vanilla seeds.
add the scraped out vanilla bean, as well to for additional flavor.
Bring the cream to a boil. Then let it simmer (not boil anymore) for about 15 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved. Whisk occasionally.

Remove the cream from heat and also remove the vanilla bean.
Now squeeze out the excess water in the gelatine leaves and add them to the cream.
Whisk until the gelatine has dissolved.

Now pour the cream into four small bowls or cups, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3-4 hours.

In order to unmold the Panna Cotta briefly dip the bottom of the bowls/cups into hot water.
Run a thin knife around the edge of each bowl/cup to losen the cream from the inside.
Place a plate topside down on top of each bowl. Invert the cream onto the plate and shake gently to release it. Then carefully lift off the bowl.

You can also just eat it out of the bowl, of course!

For the rhubarb sauce cut 500g of rhubarb into 2cm thick pieces.
Place the pieces in a saucepan.
Add approx. 100g white sugar, 4 Tbsp of water and 1 Tbsp of vanilla sugar and bring to boil.
Let it boil for about 5-10minutes (depends on how soft you want your rhubarb to be).
If the sauce is too thin mix a teaspoon of starch in a small bowl with water and slowly whisk in the starch-water mix into the rhubarb sauce. This will thicken the sauce.

Serve the rhubarb sauce with the Panna Cotta.