Pork – special cuts

Pig’s trotters, also known as pettitoes, are often used to make soup stocks and sauces, as they have great flavour and are very high in gelatin and collagen.  They are also served whole in a number of traditional recipes from around the world.

Regardless of how you plan to use your pig’s trotters, you will need to braise them slowly at low temperature for a number of hours, until the meat is falling off the bone.  At that point, they can be served in a number of ways, including being pickled in brine.  Or for a rich stock, you can continue to simmer them for up to 24 hours.

Our organic pig’s trotters are butchered from our certified organic hogs — grown without antibiotics or synthetic hormones, free-range on organic pastures.  They live a stress-free life, with no cages or crowding.  We believe that the extra time and care we take to raise our hogs results in the best trotters you can find anywhere.

2 pig’s trotters per package, approximately 1 lb (454 g).

Pig’s ears are considered a delicacy in a number of world cuisines, and also make a great dog treat.

Soul food, Latin, and Asian cuisines all make use of pig’s ears.  Generally they are boiled for about 3 hours, usually with herbs and vegetables, after which they have a satisfying texture similar to al dente pasta.  They can then be sliced thinly and added to salads, or fried or grilled with additional flavours.

2 pig’s ears per package, approximately 1 lb (454 g).

Pork tail (or pig tail) can be smoked, fried, or roasted in barbeque sauce.  In The Whole Beast: Nose to Tail Eating, chef Fergus Henderson says: “On other pages, I have sung the praises of how the pig’s snout and belly both have that special lip-sticking quality of fat and flesh merging, but this occurs in no part of the animal as wonderfully as on the tail.”

You can braise your pig tails with herbs and vegetables at 325°F (160°C) for around 3 hours, until the flesh is well softened.  After partially cooling the tails to let them firm up, they can be breaded and browned in butter.  Or you can cover them in your favourite barbeque sauce and oven-roast them until they are a dark mahogany colour.

1 pork tail per package, approximately 1 lb (454 g).

Pork fat is traditionally rendered to make lard, a highly versatile product used for cooking, baking, pastry making, candle and soap making, and skin care products.  A number of traditions also cook pork fat directly, not to mention adding it to pâtés and sausages, especially to give leaner meats a boost.

Lard is making a comeback in home use.  Despite all of the negative press it got over the last 100 years or so, it turns out to be nowhere near as bad for our health as it was made out to be.  It has less saturated fat, less cholesterol, and more unsaturated fat than butter.  And unlike vegetable shortenings, it has zero transfat.

Because animal fats can concentrate environmental pollutants, we highly recommend using fats only from certified organic, pasture-raised animals like ours.  Pastured pork fat also has other health benefits, like over 1000 IU of Vitamin D per tablespooon.

We sell our certified organic pork fat in 1-pound packets, shipped frozen to your door.