This recipe uses three stages: blanching, pressure-cooking, and final conditioning. Blanching removes odors and stray proteins, pressure-cooking extracts gelatin from the pork feet, and final conditioning enriches the broth with spices while keeping their flavors potent and preventing the vegetables from overcooking.
Yield
850 g (~2lb) of pig feet produces about three shallow containers.Total yield: about 1.8 kg of aspic.
Ingredients
- 850 g pork feet, approximately 2 lb; try to choose one of the smallest packages commonly available at a grocery store
- Plenty of cold water for blanching
- Approximately 1.5 liters of fresh water for pressure-cooking
Seasoning for approximately 1.5 liters of broth
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ onion, left whole for easy removal
- 1 celery stalk, cut into large pieces
- 1 small carrot, sliced into rounds
- Several sprigs of dill or parsley
Preparation
1. Blanch the pork feet—really important!
Place the pork feet in an ordinary cooking pot and cover them with plenty of cold water. Bring the water to a boil and boil vigorously for 3–5 minutes.
Discard this water and rinse the pork feet. This removes coagulated blood, stray proteins, and some of the stronger pork aroma, producing a cleaner broth.
2. Extract the gelatin
Transfer the blanched pork feet to the Instant Pot. Add approximately 1.5 liters of fresh water, or enough to cover the pork feet without exceeding the maximum-fill line. This is about twice the weight of the initial meat.
Do not add salt or seasonings at this stage.
Cook on High Pressure for 90 minutes, then allow the pressure to release naturally.
Waiting to add the seasonings makes the final seasoning easier to control because the exact broth volume is not yet known. It also prevents the spices from losing their potency during prolonged cooking.
3. Strain the broth
Once the pressure has released normally, pour the liquid through a fine strainer. The pork feet will remain in the strainer.
You should now have approximately 1.5 liters of relatively clean, gelatin-rich broth. Leave the meat to cool while conditioning the broth.
4. Condition and season the broth
Return the strained broth to the Instant Pot or another pot. Do not use high pressure at this stage.
Add:
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ whole onion
- Celery pieces
- Carrot rounds
Cook for approximately 10 minutes, or just long enough to develop a coherent, well-seasoned broth.
Strain the broth again through a fine strainer. Remove the onion and celery. The carrot slices may be returned later for decoration.
5. Separate the meat
While the seasoned broth is cooling, separate the cooked meat, skin, and softened connective tissue from the bones. Discard all bones and hard pieces.
From 850 g of fresh pork feet, the usable cooked yield was approximately 450 g, which was divided among three containers.
6. Assemble the aspic
Divide approximately 150 g of cooled meat among each of three glass containers.
Pour approximately 450 ml of seasoned broth into each container. Keep the layers relatively shallow so that the aspic cools evenly and is easy to portion.
Add the previously boiled carrot rounds and small fresh sprigs of dill or parsley for appearance and flavor.
7. Chill
Allow the containers to cool briefly, then cover and refrigerate until completely set, preferably overnight.
The aspic should solidify naturally without added commercial gelatin.
Storage
Keep covered in the refrigerator and consume within 3–4 days.