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Pig's trotters fly off the shelves as customers seek cheap meat cuts
Sri Carmichael, Consumer Affairs Reporter21 Oct 2009
PIG'S trotters have gone from poor man's favourite to gourmet dish of the moment. Supermarkets say they are flying off the shelves, and one restaurant sold out of nearly a month's supply in a week when it put them on the menu.
The huge demand reflects a recession-led revival of cheap meat recipes, with sales of offal and lesser-known cuts soaring. Waitrose reported hundreds of trotters being sold since they were introduced last year in stores in the capital.
Last week its sales of diced beef skirt (a muscle near the diaphragm) were nine times higher than a year ago. It is selling 255 per cent more ox cheek, 79 per cent more beef leg and 45 per cent more feather steaks (a beef shoulder cut).
Sales of pork belly - championed by chefs such as Jamie Oliver - are up 61 per cent on last year, while sales of shoulder joints suitable for slow cooking are up 21 per cent. More than 45,000 pig's cheeks have been sold since last year.
Meat buyer Andy Boulton said: "These cuts make a little meat go a long way. Most people feel they lack the time or skills to cook anything other than fillet or breast, but popping several ingredients in a pot and leaving it for a few hours is one of the simplest ways."
While beef fillet steak costs £26.99/kg, feather steak is £7.99/kg, pig cheeks are £2.99/kg and trotters £1.49/kg.
Now Waitrose is adding faggots (off-cut and offal meatballs) and cured Bath chaps (the lower half of a pig's cheek) to its Forgotten Cuts range.
Mr Boulton recommended oxtail stew with horseradish and toasted walnut mash, and beef shin stew with mushrooms and double chocolate stout.
At Pierre Koffmann's "pop-up" restaurant on top of Selfridges, diners devoured the monthly stock of 500 trotters in less than a week. An extra 1,000 had to be delivered.
Trevor Gulliver, business partner at St John restaurant in Farringdon, praised "nose-to-tail eating", adding: "If you kill an animal, you should use it all." Tim Wilson, owner of London butcher The Ginger Pig, said: "We're seeing more and more young foodies buying trotters."
Trotters with Puy lentils and Girolles
(Serves 6 to 8)
4 pig's trotters cleaned and hair removed (use a disposable razor)
2 peeled onions; 4 peeled carrots;
4 sticks celery; 1 leek; 2 bay leaves;
1 bunch thyme; 1 bunch curly parsley
6 black peppercorns
3/4 litre water
200g Puy lentils
100g Girolle mushrooms
(or selection of wild mushrooms)
50g butter
Put trotters, onions, carrots, leek, celery, bay, peppercorns and thyme in a large pan. Cover with water, simmer for three hours. Skim froth from pan.
Once trotters are tender (meat easily pulls away from bone), remove them from stock and leave to cool. Strain stock and add the lentils, simmer until lentils are cooked (about 30 mins).
Skim froth from top of stock. In a separate pan, sauté the girolles in butter then add to the lentils.
Remove bones from the cooled trotters then slice thinly, removing any unwanted bits — cartilage, nails etc.
Add trotters to the lentil mix and simmer until a good consistency.
Season with salt and pepper, add freshly chopped parsley. Serve with good bread and mash.
Reader views (4)
My father makes tremendous trotters.
He 'burns' the hairs off which is easier than shaving them (probably - not that I've tried that!). Okay smells a bit but does the job...
- Sanjay, Hounslow, UK, 21/10/2009 13:27
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Oxtail, slow cooked is an excellent meal.
As a Welshman, I've been eating faggots since I was born.
- Anthony, Esher, Surrey, 21/10/2009 12:57
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Urgh, just go to Smithfields and buy cheap decent cuts, £30 for 3Kg of decent rib eye (10 x 11oz steaks) for £30 can't be bad, the only problem is getting up there for before 7am.
- Bob, Cheam, 21/10/2009 12:04
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I sincerely hope the prices of these cuts won't rise because of their renewed popularity. I've been buying pork belly, pork shoulder, brisket, skirt etc for years as they were the best kept secret, and Pierre Koffmann's signature dish was Pig's Trotters back in the early 1990s.
- George, London, 21/10/2009 09:19
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