Had to try pickled Pig's Feet

[TheGrimReaper]

Buddy at work and I were talking about pickled pig's feet. Went to grocery store and bought a jar of Hormel's. Let me tell you one bite and I was done. GodAwful taste and texture. Gave it to the dog and she want even eat it!!!

[Hickory]

You have never been truly hungry.
I don't care for them either, but I can get them down.
There has been times in my life when I'd eaten worst than that.

[gbrown]

Buddy at work and I were talking about pickled pig's feet. Went to grocery store and bought a jar of Hormel's. Let me tell you one bite and I was done. GodAwful taste and texture. Gave it to the dog and she want even eat it!!!

I'm like you, had to try 'em one time. I felt like the dog with one of those leather chew bones. Taste wasn't something to write home about either. I've posted plenty about cabbage and sauerkraut on here, and received plenty of replies that basically said "yuck!" I know there are people out there that love and crave pickled pig feet--I'm not one. I guess, as Hickory says, if I was hungry enough I could eat them. Until then, I'll stick to other fare.

[TheGrimReaper]

I'm like you, had to try 'em one time. I felt like the dog with one of those leather chew bones. Taste wasn't something to write home about either. I've posted plenty about cabbage and sauerkraut on here, and received plenty of replies that basically said "yuck!" I know there are people out there that love and crave pickled pig feet--I'm not one. I guess, as Hickory says, if I was hungry enough I could eat them. Until then, I'll stick to other fare.

sauerkraut-I love that stuff!!! Kraut and weiners, on brats, bu it's self.YUM!!!

[Hardcast416taylor]

About all I can say about the pigs feet is that you obviously didn`t have some that were put up by an older farm canner person. I grew up with food my mother and grandmothers canning about anything God put on this Earth. Kinda wonder how you fellas would act with some pickled beef tongue or some good ox tail or even some nicely made blood sausage. Remember that a commercial canner company doesn`t put any real care or flavor into the stuff they call homestyle.Robert

[wch]

And then there's that South Louisiana delicacy: pickled pig's LIPS!

[Lloyd Smale]

Got to agree. I dont eat feet lips brains or guts.

[imashooter2]

Snout. Big bottles of pickled snout. Couldn't believe there was enough market for someone to pickle snout commercially, but there it was...

[TheGrimReaper]

Got to agree. I dont eat feet lips brains or guts.

I agree I don't and will not eat any organ due to all the toxins and prion infection possibilities.

[gbrown]

About all I can say about the pigs feet is that you obviously didn`t have some that were put up by an older farm canner person. I grew up with food my mother and grandmothers canning about anything God put on this Earth. Kinda wonder how you fellas would act with some pickled beef tongue or some good ox tail or even some nicely made blood sausage. Remember that a commercial canner company doesn`t put any real care or flavor into the stuff they call homestyle.Robert

I've had a ton of blood sausage (blutwurst), boiled tongue, seasoned hog lard spread (schweinschmalz), and traditional Cajun red boudin (blood), as well as turkey fries, mountain oysters, and stingray "wings", barbecued. The pickled beef tongue sounds intrigueing. Got a good recipe for it? As stated before--pickled pigs feet?--not while there is other edible stuff around.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Around here, they have them in the taverns. Ya gotta get really looped and then they ain't bad at all.

[L Ross]

Just finished a ring of blood sausage. I take it out of the casing and throw it in a frying pan, fry it some and put it on top of pancakes and pour maple syrup on it. Liver sausage is as good or maybe ven better. That sweet and savory contrast is good.
So how do you guys feel about pickled herring in cream sauce, or head cheese, scrapple, and smoked buffalo tongue?

Duke

[imashooter2]

I love scrapple, liver and kidneys. Tongue and head cheese are better than being hungry, but not a lot better. You can keep feet and I confess to never trying lips or the aforementioned snout. Pickled fish is horrid stuff...

[daniel lawecki]

Whats wrong with a good steak with mushrooms on top

[41 mag fan]

Dont eat anything that stands in sh*t or gets shi*t on like oxtail....yuck

[gbrown]

Just finished a ring of blood sausage. I take it out of the casing and throw it in a frying pan, fry it some and put it on top of pancakes and pour maple syrup on it. Liver sausage is as good or maybe ven better. That sweet and savory contrast is good.
So how do you guys feel about pickled herring in cream sauce, or head cheese, scrapple, and smoked buffalo tongue?

Duke

+1 with all of that. Dad made homemade head cheese, nothing better between 2 slices of bread, some mustard and a slab of onion. Scrapple I had in Delaware. Served with (or mixed) with scrambled eggs a treat! Smoked buffalo tongue, I never had--beef tongue--raised on it. Like the tenderest cut of beef. Kinda melts in your mouth.

[jcwit]

I've ate worse, but I was motoring on my bike with my mouth open. Boy those June bugs sure are tasty.

[dale2242]

As a child , dad took pickled pigs feet, polish sausage and $.25 Hershey bars on our hunting trips. I`m 71 now so it`s been a while. I hadn`t eaten pickled pigs feet for 50 yrs. Bought a bottle and tried some. Not what I remembered. Either it or my tastes have changed because it was not the same. Ick!!
Polish sausage and Hershey bars are still good. The $.25 bars are now $3-4....dale

[bayjoe]

Brown beans and pickled pigs feet YUM YUM !!!!!

[Hardcast416taylor]

I've ate worse, but I was motoring on my bike with my mouth open. Boy those June bugs sure are tasty.

Isn`t that how you can tell that a biker doesn`t wear a face shield, the number of June bugs in his teeth and mouth?Robert

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Pickled herring. that is about like candy to me. I love the stuff.

[BruceB]

Pickled herring indeed!

We took a week-long cruise along the Norwegian coast in '99, and for EVERY MEAL there were at least ten different varieties of pickled herring on the buffet. I was like a kid with a free ride in a candy store.

I'm almost ashamed to remember how I abused that spread.....almost.

[pipehand]

Of all the "weird" things mentioned, I have eaten them all except the mountain oysters. About the pigs feet, Dale is right. They aren't what they once were. A lot of foods have been degraded over the years due to cost cutting by the processors. Its also why we're seeing a resurgence in people curing their own ham and bacon, growing heirloom varieties of vegetables, baking their own bread etc. We "Foodies" want the good stuff that our grandparents had, plus the variety available due to modern transportation.

[randyrat]

Pigs feet are bad Ju Ju, my mother always tried to get me to taste them with no luck, my lips were sealed tight. Now your talking good food when you mention pickled fish. I am real partial to pickled northern pike and herring is fit for a king.

[selmerfan]

Now Lloyd, are you telling me that you don't eat brats? 'Cause they're stuffed in hog intestines. :)

[TXGunNut]

I've been curious about pigs feet a time or two but I know where they've been. Ditto for the lips and snout. Pretty big fan of pork liver tho.

[shooter2]

One cannot buy good PPF's in the market. I had a friend in Minnesota who made a batch for our monthly poker games and they were delicious. The only problem I recall was getting the grease off the cards. Of course, we also have things like Lutefisk which are cod filets soaked in lye. We do that so that if you do not like the taste you can always wash your hands with it.

My granddad, a German of pure extraction, made a sausage from pigs heads and other ingredients. You could smell it cooking from a block away, but it was truly wonderful. The recipe' died with him and I truly miss it.

Friends who spent a few life times in VN and surrounding countries tell me they love Kimchee. Well, I like cabbage in any form and tried the stuff in a jar. I did not like it. They say you cannot buy it in a store, but if I ever get my rear to Texas they will take me to a place that knows how to make it. One of these days I will do that.

I guess it's all a matter of taste and what you grow up with. I can eat pickled herring for breakfast and I still love a good limburger cheese on heavy rye bread. Fond memories. S2

[gbrown]

I always understood kimchee to come from Korea. Then, again, brining/pickling is the major form of food preservation in SE Asia. The Vietnamese are known for their fish sauce, nuc mom, which they eat on everything. Never spent any time in that paradise during my military career. Been told by those who were there that Lrrps could smell the VC from a long way off because of it. Up around Killeen there are any number of Korean restaurants that serve a variety of kimchee--some you have a tough time identifying the plant, but all good. I've made some homemade--it was fabulous. Maybe time to make some more. Pickled fish is delicious, especially in sour cream. Never have tried to make it, though. I'm staring at a small crock (1/2 gallon?) sitting on top of my refrigerator that my uncle sent us salted salmon in from Alaska back about 1952. Thinking about using it to make the pickled beef tongue mentioned earlier.

[gkainz]

LOL some funny comments above - made me chuckle, anyway. Like one guy above, I am one if those conflicted mix of German/Norwegian heritage. The Norsk in me loves the picketed herring but the German in me heaves at the thought of Lutefisk.
The German in me loves just about all kinds of sausages, wursts and meats, but the Norsk can't handle the blood, brain or tongue added to the mix.
Awe shoot, now I'm hungry for some Swedish pancakes, lefsa and bratwurst!

[nanuk]

Funny stuff!


Got to agree. I dont eat feet lips brains or guts.

beef colon, pig small instestine, sheep intestine... all called sausage casing!
My Uncles would eat the brains the evening of butcher day when we killed pigs at Grampa's


Snout. Big bottles of pickled snout. Couldn't believe there was enough market for someone to pickle snout commercially, but there it was...

Snout, Ears, and skin + all the meat from the head.... Gramma would clean the skull completely and make head cheese in a loaf pan! I could actually make out the different parts! Nothing pickled tho, that was for the feet.


I love scrapple, liver and kidneys. Tongue and head cheese are better than being hungry, but not a lot better. You can keep feet and I confess to never trying lips or the aforementioned snout. Pickled fish is horrid stuff...

I don't know what scrapple is... sounds like the solids after rendering out the lard.
Liver is OK, I really like Baby Beef Liver.
Kidneys? tasted horrible. I asked Mom how she cooked them, she said "Just boiled the P!$$ outta them"
Tongue on toast isn't too bad, but pretty fatty.
Pickled fish is VERY good! I've had the oily fish pickled, like herring, trout etc, but prefer Pike, and Sucker

When I took my meatcutting training, we used hocks to make head cheese, and made it with so much meat, it looked like a solid meat loaf, and sliced on bread was awesome sandwich meat.

We were taught, the only thing you throw away from a pig, is the squeal!

[gbrown]

nanuk--Scrapple is a hog heads cheese type of food with cornmeal mixed in with it. Someone from the Delmarva/SE Pennsylvania area would be better at giving a recipe. I think it originated with the Pennsylvania Dutch culture, but not 100% certain.

[shooter2]

nanuk said; "We were taught, the only thing you throw away from a pig, is the squeal!"

The Hormel Company in Minnesota has a similar saying; "the only thing that gets out of here is the oink"

[L Ross]

I was gifted a couple of hog's heads and made head cheese and scrapple. Don't know if it was traditional or not but here's how I made scrapple.
I boiled my pig's heads in a large kettle with no lid on and after it cooled I picked out the good meat and strained the broth. I mixed a cup of yellow cornmeal with water until I had a smooth paste then I stirred it into a sauce pan of the broth and brought it to a simmer until the cornmeal was cooked, smooth and creamy. While it was cooking I diced up a bunch of the meat into porky nuggets and stirred that into the cornmeal mixture. I seasoned it with poultry seasoning, sage, salt, black and white pepper, a bay leaf and some brown sugar. If I needed more liquid as it cooked I added more broth. Once I felt the flavors had melded I poured the mixture into bread loaf pans and put them on top of ice in a cooler. It firms up like a brick. When we eat it we slice the loaf and lightly flour the slices and fry them on a griddle and serve with real maple syrup.

Duke

[gbrown]

For those of you who are reluctant to use hog's heads in the recipe, here's a recipe off the Food Channels Diners, Drive ins, and Dives that looks pretty good. Might have to try this myself.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/scrapple-recipe/index.html

[oldscool]

In the middle of the country, you used to be able to go into any tavern, lounge, bar, or whatever and see gallon jars of pickled "hocks" eggs, or hot mamma's for snacking on along with small packages of saltines for complement. I don't think any of the "lounge lizards" fell ill or died from such nurishment.[smilie=p:

[Lloyd Smale]

yes ill admit to eating brats. yes they are incased in intestines. i wont though eat store bought bratts or sausage anymore. in those i dont know whats inside. i make my own so i can control what im eating. Now im not so smug as to say ill never eat a store bought bratt or sausage. If im somewhere thats serving them ill eat them. But at my home I know what im eating. Personaly make mine back straps or a filet of perch. Im not a fan of pickled anything other then pickles.
Now Lloyd, are you telling me that you don't eat brats? 'Cause they're stuffed in hog intestines. :)

[gwpercle]

The other day I was at the local meat market getting a boudin fix, looking over the case they had some hog's head cheese and next to it was packages of " Chicken Glace' " which looked a lot like head cheese. When I asked the butcher about it he said it was thier recipe for head cheese but was made with chicken meat. Called it Chicken Glace' because Chicken Head Cheese just didn't sound right . I had a mental picture of a pot full of chicken heads and agreed Glace' sounds so much better. Got a package and it was very good.
Gary

[crawfobj]

I've eaten some crazy stuff and love picked anything. However, I know where pigs feet have been and they're on my "I hope I never get that hungry" list.

[badge176]

Saw Scrapple being made on "Dirty Jobs":
was pork liver and pork belly boiled, then ground. Mixed with Cornmeal and seasoning and then pressed into loaf pans. I ate it out In Maryland (Frederick), at a dinner. They recognized my MN accent and tried to warn me, but I persisted and It was fine, no "worse" than Mexican Chorizo but way less spicey.