Galician Pigs' Ears


 

Jim Langford

TVWBB Fan
Here we go, pigs' ears for four. Good, cheap eatin´.

Ingredients:

2 pigs' ears
1 onion
1 sprig parsley
Water
Virgen olive oil
Hot paprika, preferably the smoked Spanish kind. (If you only have sweet paprika, add some cayenne to it.)
Kosher salt

Instructions:

Cover the ears, the onion and the parsley with water. Cook in a pressure cooker for about 12 minutes from the time steam starts to come out of the valve or, if you're using a regular pot, for about 30 minutes from the time the water starts to boil.

Take the ears out of the pot and cut them in two-inch strips. Serve them (traditionally on a wooden plate) sprinkled with some of the Kosher salt, the paprika and the olive oil.
 
When I saw the title, I thought Pigs Ears was just the neme of the dish similar to Pig Candy.



I was wrong.
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Hey Jim:

This looks suspiciously familiar.
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I've tried orejas prepared several differnent ways over the years. To be honest, I've yet to find a pig ear that I've liked. It seems to be the only part of the pig for which I can't acquire a taste (actually...it's the texture that bugs me; not the taste).

However...I might give your recipe at fling, anyway.

Thanks for spreading the gospel of authentic Spanish cuisine.

Sal
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Sal DeTraglia:
Thanks for spreading the gospel of authentic Spanish cuisine.

Sal </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It's a pleasure, but I have a feeling you're likely to be the only one who gives this recipe a try. LOL!
 
Only because some of us (okay, maybe just me) already do them.
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I do them much like your recipe. The only difference: a small crushed clove of garlic and a squeeze of sour orange added to the cooking water. Good also with a topping of mined toasted plain or smoked almonds mixed with the paprika and salt (I use fleur de sel for added crunch)--with a glass of fino alongside. I've 8 ears in the freezer awaiting.
 
Well, I know that the dogs like em. And I have been known to eat a milk bone or two after a few beers, so maybe......Naaahh! I thinks that Scott's emoticon pretty much spells it out for me.
 
Ya know... on second thought we have probably all eaten them as part of a hot dog and never known the difference!
 
Those are interesting suggestions, Kevin. I'll have to give them a try. Another way to go would be to sprinkle some finely chopped garlic right onto the cooked ears along with the paprika. I do that sometimes when I make Galician-style octopus (pulpo a feira), a similar dish.

I'm really surprised to hear you are fond of this dish. How did you learn about it?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Bob H.:
Ya know... on second thought we have probably all eaten them as part of a hot dog and never known the difference! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

There are a lot of things that go into hot dogs that even a guy like me, who loves foods that many find disgusting, would rather not eat. For example... Well, I don't want to spoil anybody's lunch, especially if hot dogs are on the menu.
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Jim--

It was the Cubans!

Actually, no, I used to make a sort of loaf, years ago, with julienned cooked ears, eggs and Gruyere (a French thing). The loaf is baked, cooled, then sliced and fried for service. Very tasty.

I served a version of this at a cocktail/hors d'oeuvre benefit where I met some wealthy Cuban gentlemen who commented on the loaf. Through one of them, eventually, I met a young man who was over here from Galicia. He worked for me for a while and one night made ears, pulpo and a caldo I no longer quite recall. The next night three other members of my staff (a Haitian, a German, another from Curaçao) all made ear recipes. It became a thing, and peridically we'd reprise recipes in the afternoon, each of us making a version of another's recipe, and sipping fino or vodka, before we opened for dinner.

After that, cooking mojo-marinated whole pigs with Cubans on numerous occasions offered yet more ears and more options. Since, ear cooking has been sporadic as ears aren't so available. I'd get them only every once in a while. But now I've got pigs in the freezer and my neighbor has a few on the hoof so ears I got!
 

 

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