Pigs Feet for Dinner

Nick is quite fond of reminding me that there is no part of a pig that cannot be consumed or used. This dish is made from the feet of the animal.  It is one of those dishes that I believe one either loves or hates, having never met a person who was indifferent to it.

This is not by any stretch of the imagination one of my favorite dishes, but it is one of Nick's, for some reason.  My grandmother and aunts used to cook pig's feet and it was always thought of as somewhat of a special treat and everyone looked forward to the couple of times a year it would be served.  Everyone, that is, except me.

My folks would cook the pigs feet, and while they were boiling in the pot, the cook would brown flour in the old cast iron skillet.  A process that seemed to take forever, and was never to my liking.

For Nick I found my grandmother's recipe, and doctored it up a bit, and prepared him a meal for which he has had a hankerin', as he says.

If you have a hunger for pigs feet, give it a try and let me know how you liked it, or not.

Place 8-10 pigs feet in a heavy pot.   (be sure all the hair has been singed off and the feet scoured
clean)    I use a cast iron Dutch oven.

To this add:

2 chopped onions
2 stalks of chopped celery
2 tbl red pepper flakes
1 bay leaf
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder or granulated garlic, or a couple cloves fresh garlic
salt and pepper  (about 1 tsp each or to your liking)

Cover with room temperature water.  Cover.  Set to boiling, then simmer until the meat falls off the bones.

Check frequently and skim off the fat.

When done strip the meat off the bones and serve with bar-b-que sauce and corn bread, the way Nick likes it.

Or, with browned flour gravy and vegetables, the way my grandmother and aunts prepared it.

To make the gravy:
Measure the amount of flour you would use for the amount of gravy you want.  It takes 1-2 tbl flour to 1 cup of water to make 1 cup of gravy.

 Heat up a cast iron skillet and add the flour, turn down the heat to low.  Using a wooden spoon or spatula, keep the flour moving, gently scrapping the bottom of the skillet.

You want the flour to brown slowly and not burn.  When flour becomes a nice shade of brown, not tan and not dark brown, somewhere in between.  When it is the shade you want remove it from the heat until you are ready to make it into gravy.

Add cold water to the flour, and mix well with a whip to avoid creating lumps.  Return the skillet to a medium heat and stir constantly until the mixture becomes the thickness you prefer.

Serve the meat with mashed potatoes and green beans and spoon on the gravy.

Enjoy.... if you can

p.s.  there really isn't much meat on these things, mostly fat..... the dog loves it