Crystal Pork Trotter
A traditional dish from Jiangsu, made by marinating pork trotters and then simmering them. The braising jelly sets translucent like crystal, and the meat is tender and richly flavored.
Ingredients
pork trotters (scraped clean)
to taste
coarse salt (for curing)
to taste
scallion knot
to taste
ginger slices
to taste
Shaoxing wine
to taste
saltpeter solution (sprinkled evenly over lean meat)
to taste
Instructions
1
Prepare the Pork Trotters
Scrape the pork trotters clean, slice them open flat with the blade, remove the bones, place skin-side down on the cutting board, poke several small holes in the lean meat with a bamboo skewer, sprinkle the saltpeter solution evenly over it, then rub thoroughly with coarse salt.
2
Curing
After curing the pork trotters in a container, remove them and soak in cold water for one hour. Take out, scrape off any impurities from the skin, and rinse clean with warm water.
3
Cooking
Place the pork trotters skin-side up in the pot, add the scallion knot, ginger slices, Shaoxing wine, and water. Braise until the meat is tender, then remove.
4
Setting
Place the cooked pork trotters skin-side down into a flat container, cover with an empty container on top to press flat. Bring the cooking liquid in the pot to a boil, skim off the floating oil, and pour into the flat container. Add a little fresh pork skin aspic to help it set, and the Crystal Pork Trotter is ready.
