Recipe: Breaded Pork Trotters in Caul Fat

1 In a large pot, place your meats and garnish vegetables, then pour in 6 or 7.5 qt (7 liters) of water. Bring to a boil, salt and add your peppercorns. Let cook for 2 hours 45 minutes over low heat, constantly skimming.

2 Everything is cooked. Drain your meats on a flat plate. Keep the broth for making a good soup or as a base for cooking rice, pasta, etc.

3 Remove the skin from your tongues, slice your ears, bone your pork trotters, and cut your tongues into thick slices. Mix everything together and let cool slightly.

4 In a fairly high-sided tray, place half of your meat mixture, then your foie gras cut into slices over the entire surface. Finish with the rest of the meat and compact it a little with a skimmer. Cover with film and refrigerate for at least three hours, preferably overnight.

5 Remove your tray and cut eight rectangles with a knife, cut in half down the middle then in four for each half. Using a metal spatula, remove your rectangles one by one and lay them out on your work surface.

6 Now spread out your caul fat, then cut it into rectangles in which you will wrap your pork trotters.

7 Pass them one by one through the egg wash, then through the breadcrumbs. Place them on a tray and refrigerate for one hour, then repeat the same operation and keep cool. For cooking, preheat your oven to 410°F (210 °C) (gas mark 7). On the stovetop, pour a little oil into an oven-safe dish, then brown them on all 4 sides, then place in the oven for 20 minutes. You can serve these pork trotters with a good salad, sarladaise potatoes, wild mushrooms such as porcini or chanterelles, or if you prefer, shape them into patties. You can also freeze them individually and finish them the same way, increasing the oven time by 10 minutes.