Hot To Trot

Few things in life are as important as a good foundation—a connection with the earth that sets one on a path to greatness. Pigs have a leg up in this department, which produces their inherent tastiness. This scrumptiousness is in no small part based on the pig’s connection with the dirt: rooting and digging, burrowing under leaf litter to make a wintry bed, raising its young in huge piggy nests on the woodland floor. Yet for an animal so connected with the earth, the pig has some tiny little hooves.

Those feet are incredible, dainty things—a mature sow often weighs in at 650 pounds, which means each trotter’s four square inches are holding up the equivalent of one 1960s Elvis Presley. Over 20 bones make up the structure of a pig’s foot, with the rest comprised of tendons, skin, fat, and meat. When I think of different pork cuts, I usually find them by imagining a roasted pig and cutting through the crispy skin wrapper.

Trotters are like pigs in a miniature form. They’re delicious packages of porky deliciousness, which can be cooked into deliciously crispy skin wrapped around delicious meat, delicious fat and all the succulent, delicious goodness.