Pigs' Trotters (Irish Crubeens or Crúibíní)

Crubeens would be one of the relatively few dishes whose name in Ireland sounds about the same in English and as Gaeilge - because "crubeens" comes directly from the Irish crúibíní "trotters" or "pig's feet". All through the nineteenth century and into the twentieth, crubeens were widely sold in Ireland as street food, snack food, and the quintessential bar food. Publicans would often serve big bowls of them right at the bar; they knew that the yummy, gummy, bacon-y, salty finger food would make their patrons literally thirsty for just one more pint. Indeed, the pint of stout - Guinness in much of the country, or Beamish down south by its home in Cork - was always the preferred accompaniment for crubeens, along with soda bread. People sometimes purposely started shops or stalls selling crubeens next to some handy pub that didn't sell them itself. In the mid-to-late 20th century, crubeens started to get harder to find in Ireland as people grew more interested in other more exotic or less rustic kinds of snack food. But the dish is now experiencing a renaissance in popularity, turning up in high-profile competitions among European celebrity TV chefs, and on the menus of high-priced restaurants. Some of the treatments the pigs' feet receive in these places are completely unrelated to the way they would traditionally have appeared when served at a pub's bar or at an Irish country town's crubeen stall. But there are still restaurants, pubs and shops or stalls, especially in the south of the country, where fresh, hot, crunchy crubeens in the traditional style can be found. This particular food tradition - for good reason - seems not to be going away.

Brine:
12½ cups water
¾ lb sea salt
¾ lb brown sugar
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs thyme
1 Tbsp. black peppercorns
4 cloves

Trotters:
4 pigs' trotters
2 carrots
1 onion
6 oz wine vinegar

Breading:
1 butter, melted
1 dried breadcrumbs
1 pinch allspice

For the Brine:
Put all ingredients in a pan, bring to boiling point, skim and remove from the heat. Let cool. Add trotters, weight down with a very clean stone or other non reactive weight, and leave for 24 hours.

For the Trotters:
Bandage the trotters with several strips of cheesecloth, or tie them several times around the short way with string or they will break up into many pieces.

Put into a pot with the vegetables and cover with water and the vinegar. Simmer gently for 6-7 hours.

Allow to cool in the liquid.

Breading:
Split the trotter in two lengthways and roll in melted butter and dried breadcrumbs mixed with a pinch of allspice.

Grill slowly or heat in an oven at 350°F (180°C/160°C fan, Gas Mark 4), until hot and crisp on the outside.

Serve with mustard.