Braised Pork Trotters 紅燒元蹄

With the approach of Chinese New Year, the talk of braised whole pork trotters brought back memories of the festival in the "old country".  Typically a winter dish because of the high fat content and the relatively long cooking time, it is also a Chinese New Year dish because of the "wholeness" and the lucky symbolism of the pork trotters (supposed to bring unexpected lucky money).  Done properly, pork trotters melt in your mouth and don't taste greasy at all - which could also be a problem as you throw your cholesterol count to the wind and dig in.

My mother made the best braised pork, whether she made it with trotters or with the shoulder.  I mentioned in a previous post her recipe called for browning of the whole trotter with skin on all sides in a heavy pot, then adding the red fermented soy bean curd (南乳) with onions, anise and pepper.  The braising took a couple of hours.   By the time the pork was done, the sauce would be reduced to the right consistency, the skin and the fat would have attained an almost translucent texture that would give you that melt-in-your-mouth sensation.

One of the best braised whole pork trotters I tasted in a restaurant was again made by chef Patrick Chuang at Delicious 好清香 (see my earlier post on Pork belly buns).  We made a return visit just to try this special dish which had to be ordered in advance.  It was worth the trouble of preordering.   While the trotter was done just right, the dried vegetables on which it was served was even better.  It was tasty but not salty and it had taken in all the flavours of the braised pork.  A whole pork trotter was obviously too much for two but it tasted even better the following day so we took half home and ordered another dish just to save our arteries.