French Canadian Ragoût De Pattes De Cochon Stewed Pigs Feet Food

PATTE DE COCHON (FRENCH CANADIAN PORK HOCK STEW)

Steps:

• (For Broth).
• Cover pork hocks with water, add chopped onion, garlic powder, allspice, salt and pepper. Simmer for about 2 hours. Add water as needed.
• Remove hocks, cool and take meat off bones. Strain the broth and reserve.
• (For Meat Balls).
• Mix ground meat, egg, allspice, onion salt, onion chips, garlic powder, nutmeg and allspice together and form into small meatballs. Roll the meatballs in flour to coat. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.
• Brown the dry flour in frying pan until light golden brown. Mix flour well with 1 ½ cup water and add to broth. Once meatballs are out of the oven, place in a casserole dish and cover with broth. Simmer in 275 degree oven for 3 hours. Add meat from pork hocks and let simmer for another hour.

RAGOUT DE PATTES DE COCHON (PORK SHANK AND MEATBALL STEW)

Steps:

• Mix sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon cloves, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper, nutmeg, and garlic salt together in a bowl. Rub salt mixture all over pork shanks.
• Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large saucepan. Cook pork shanks in the hot oil until browned, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Pour in enough water to cover the shanks. Stir in coarsely chopped onion and celery. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until pork can be easily removed from the bones, 2 to 3 hours.
• Transfer pork shanks to a cutting board; shred pork.
• Strain cooking liquid, discarding bones, onion, and celery. Pour strained liquid back into the saucepan. Stir in shredded pork.
• Mix ground pork, finely chopped onion, parsley, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon cloves, ginger, mustard powder, salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper together in a large bowl. Shape into balls.
• Pour toasted flour into a shallow dish. Roll meatballs in toasted flour.
• Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook meatballs in batches until browned, about 1 minute per side.
• Stir browned meatballs into the shredded pork stew. Simmer, stirring in leftover toasted flour, until meatballs are no longer pink in the center and stew is thick, about 30 minutes.

RAGOûT DE PATTES DE COCHON (PORK STEW WITH MEATBALLS)

Steps:

• STOCK:.
• The day before serving the ragout, season pork hocks with salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.
• Caramelized onions in a deep saucepan in 2 Tbsp butter (Recipe #356677). Remove from saucepan.
• In same saucepan, melt 2 tbsp fat and , then brown hocks until dark brown in colour on all sides (this is the secret to a great ragout).
• Add water, chicken bouillon cube, and onions to pork hocks. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for at least two hours, until meat falls from bones.
• At this point it's a good idea to remove pork hocks from saucepan and refrigerate the hocks and ragout overnight in fridge so that you can.
• Remove/skim the congealed fat.
• Roast flour in 350F oven until caramel brown. This takes about 1 hour. (should be dark brown but not burnt so keep an eye on it). Alternatively you may brown the flour in a hot dry pan (No oil!), stirring continuously until it's a rich, deep, brown colour. (You must be careful not to burn the flour by controlling the temperature of your pan and stirring constantly until done).
• Remove meat from bone and set aside.
• Thicken ragout by using a jar or blender to mix the roasted flour with the 1/2 cup water and pour into the ragout, stirring until well mixed and broth has thickened to a nice consistency.
• Season with salt, pepper and allspice to taste.
• Add cooked pork meatballs and pork meat and heat thoroughly.
• MEAT BALLS:.
• Mix all ingredients and pat mixture into a 1 inch thick rectangle, then cut into 1 inch squares.
• Shape each square into a 1 inch meatball.
• Bake in 400F oven for 10 minutes.
• Add to Ragoût de pattes to complete cooking.
• Ragout is sometimes served with boiled or mashed potatoes.