I’ve never tried these, but I sometimes see them in jars next to the cash registers at gas stations. Are they any good? There doesn’t seem to be much meat on them. Does the pickling process somehow make the bone and cartilage edible?
(I once had a Chinese roommate who ate chicken feet. He said they’re a delicacy in China and he couldn’t believe how cheap they are here. Well, I guess they would be expensive if they were popular. Just imagine how many chickens you have to kill to get a pound of feet! And no, the bones and claws aren’t edible, you just eat the fatty skin. I tried them – not disgusting, but not something I would go out of my way for.)
The bone isn’t edible, and the cartilage is usually crunchier than I like it, but the meat is good and the skin is delicious. I don’t care for the fat, though, it reminds me of raw bacon fat.
The little jars of pickled pork hocks are better. Less fat, less bones, more edible bits.
There good, if a little gelatinous, and a bit too sour for my taste. I prefer my pigs feet stewed in a big pot of marinara sauce.
Any way you cook pigs feet, there’s not going to be much meat on them, but what meat there is, as a result of all the gelatin, is going to be extremely silky and flavorful.
Haven’t had them, either (big help, eh?). I have tried bird feet (not just chicken, but also duck) when I was in Thailand, but I was (to be charitable) NOT impressed. Others seemed to devour them, though.
I cook smoked pork hocks sometimes (the wrist/ankle sections of said pig) in bean soup, because while there isn’t a lot of edible meat on them, as yBeayf mentioned, the gelatin really adds to the consistency of the finished product (plus, if they’re smoked: LOTS OF FLAVOR). I usually add some smoked sausage or ham or something to the finished soup in order to have enough meat, but they are certainly worth investing in if you use them right. Ly.
Rightly.
Ish.
Rightlyish.
They are a staple at Dim Sum, we always gets some.
When I was a little boy, way back in the 1960s, my Mom used to snack on these. I didn’t much care for them myself. My Grandma, Mom’s mom came over one day for a visit. While sitting down in the kitchen talking to Mom, she turns to me and asks, “Do you have pickled pigs feet?”
Knowing that Mom had just got some from the grocery, I replied, “Yes, Ma’am.”
She then offers, “Well, just keep your shoes on and maybe no one will notice.”
I was all of four or five. I had never heard of any telephone prank calls. I was bewieldered and bemused at the same time. I still giggle a little inside when I think of that introduction to the absurd side of humor she gave me.
Haven’t had the misfortune. They’re too fuckin’ ugly. I’ve never even seen a person eat a pig’s foot. If this were the last food on the planet, well…I’d have to be near dead before I’d eat one.
Plus, I keep picturing the pigs on little gimp carts with a cup full of pencils and a sandwich board…
Let me relate this little tale: my brother used to be a regional sales rep for a company that sold food to restaurants. There was a Chinese restaurant in his hometown that he serviced, and the owner loved chicken feet (he didn’t serve them in the restaurant, they were just for the owner and his family). So, since my parents still raised chickens back then, they’d save the feet in a big ol’ freezer bag for my brother, who would take them to his buddy, who as a result basically thought my bro walked on water and did big business with him.
Then one year, my dad traded his peacocks for an emu. (Yeah, my dad’s a character.) So when Sammy the Emu took a dirtnap, Dad saved the feet for the Chinese guy. And when my brother presented the feet to him, OH, he was impressed mightily, and couldn’t heap enough praise upon him.
So, you think chicken feet are bad, how about a nice big pair of emu feet?
I’ve only ate the non-pickled feet with menudo (con pata).
“Why, that pig saved my life! You don’t eat a pig like that all at once!”
How does one drink them?