I’ve been working my way through lots of of Marco Pierre White’s recipes in the past year. But now it’s time for his most notorious recipe. Pig Trotters. I’m adapting his recipe from the book White Heat.

This is a recipe Marco absorbed from his mentor Pierre Koffmann, hence the name. They worked together at La Tante Claire and this dish is synonymous with Koffmann. As tribute Marco made his own tweak on the original.

I knew it would be difficult going in, but it was truly a challenge. There’s a huge variety of skills needed, from boning the trotter, to making a sauce, to making a mousse… and as with other recipes from White Heat they are clearly designed or a brigade of chefs to muster. A solo home cook (like me!) will find the workload a struggle.

But I was fairly pleased with the end result.

Compare it to Marco’s version:

I had to make a couple of tweaks based on availability: I couldn’t get veal stock so substituted for chicken; and trying to get veal sweetbreads (or any sweetbreads for that matter) was virtually impossible. I tried dozens of butchers and online shops but no dice.

The final dish was arguably not worth it. This is truly a restaurant dish. The trotters themselves are rich and tasty, but not more enjoyable than a thick slice of pork belly which is a darn sight easier to prepare. And the mousseline is delicious but again not worth the effort. If you want to make this, just make mashed potato, roast up some pork belly and onions, though make this sauce. It’ll be just as good and not as much work.

marco pierre white's pig trotters

This is my slight tweak on Marco Pierre White's recipe which he in turn got from Pierre Koffmann.

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Prep Time 2 hours hrs

Cook Time 4 hours hrs

Course Main Course

Cuisine French

Servings 2

Ingredients

  

• 2 pig's trotters
• 1 carrot roughly chopped
• 1 stalk of celery roughly chopped
• 1 onion roughly chopped
• 100 ml dry white wine
• 500 ml chicken stock
• sprig of thyme
• 1 bay leaf

For the filling:

• 20 g dried porcini
• 200 g firm tofu
• ½ onion diced

For the mousse:

• 1 chicken breast chopped
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp salt
• 100 ml double cream

For the sauce:

• 2 turkey legs
• 50 g mushrooms sliced
• 50 g shallots chopped
• ½ head of garlic sliced across to halve each clove
• sprig of thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
• 1 tbsp Marsala
• 500 ml chicken stock
• lemon juice to taste
• few drops of cream
• knob of butter

For the garnish:

• Porcini chopped
• 18 shallots

For the mashed potatoes:

• 500 g Maris Piper potatoes
• 4 g salt
• 750 ml water
• 100 g unsalted butter
• 15 ml double cream

Instructions

 

• Soak the trotters in water in the fridge overnight.
• Debone the pig trotters. This one sentence hides a lot of work. Look up videos how to do it.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C. In a large lidded casserole dish, gently fry the onion, celery and carrot for a couple of minutes. Add the white wine to deglaze, and reduce until sticky. Add the trotter skin side down, add the stock and herbs, cover and bake in the oven for 2.5 hours.
• Meanwhile, make the chicken mousse. Blitz the egg, chicken and salt together until smooth, and then drizzle in the cream while still blending. Push through a sieve and refrigerate until needed.
• Soak the porcini in boiling water to refresh. In a pan fry the diced onion and tofu until lightly coloured. Combine with half the porcini and cool slightly. When cooled, mix enough mousse into it until bound. Refrigerate until needed.
• Get the sauce started. In a pan start frying the turkey legs until starting to brown, and then add mushrooms, shallots and garlic. Fry gently until starting to soften, add the herbs and deglaze with the vinegar. When reduced to almost nothing repeat with Marsala. Then add the chicken stock. Simmer for 20 minutes, and then pass through a muslin cloth. Keep the sauce in a saucepan covered ready for serving. Before serving add a few drops each of lemon and cream, then season to taste.
• For the mash simmer the potatoes for 10 minutes until tender. Drain really well then blitz in a food processor with the butter and cream until smooth.
• For the shallots wrap in tin foil with butter and salt for 30 minutes until tender. The skins should slip off easily.
• The trotter should be ready now so remove from the oven, discarding the vegetables. Take your mousse mix and force into the skin up to the toe bones. Place on aluminium foil and wrap tightly into a sausage. Poach in simmering water for 12 minutes.
• Serve the trotter unwrapped from the foil, with mashed potato, roasted onions, dot with remaining porcini and pour over the sauce.

Video

Notes

You are supposed to use sweetbreads in place of the tofu.