PIckled Pigs Feet and Pork Rinds

            My special thanks to Dave at Dolores Canning Company for providing me samples of Pickled Pigs Feet and Pork Rinds.  I received no payment for the following review and the opinions expressed are my honest personal opinions.

            If you have read my March review of the Dolores Chili Brick, you may remember my rave review of the product and the recipe I created using it.  At that time I had mentioned that having enjoyed the Chili Brick so much I was curious to try the pickled pigs feet and pickled pork rinds made by the Dolores Canning Company.  Dave Munoz from Dolores saw my interest and graciously sent me a jar of each.

            

        Now, these are products about which I have been curious but have been hesitant to try.  I tried to find some of my family members who might want to sample these with me, but none stepped forward except my adventurous youngest daughter, Angelina.  I seem to recall having tried pigs feet about forty years ago and somewhat liking them, but I was apparently not so enamored as to try them again since that time.  This past Sunday Angelina and I were up for the challenge.

           Appearance-wise what can I say.  They look very weird in an unappetizing sort of way.  My wife refused to look at them.  Ange could only describe them as "gross".  Here is a picture of the two jars from the unlabeled side.

         When opened, the pork rinds smelled of vinegar, jalapenos, and oregano--the odor was essentially the same as jalapenos en escabeche, which is a pickling solution.  The smell was not unpleasant.  However, the pigs feet did not smell as good.  The odor was not quite as vinegary and with a stronger meat scent--and not good like smoked meats, but like fatty meat soaked in vinegar.

           Ange tried the first tasting which was the pigs feet.  I captured the moment on video.  By the way, despite the fact that she still looks like a kid, Ange is 21.  The toddler in the background is hers.  I'll let the video speak for itself.

         Okay so Ange wasn't thrilled with the pigs feet.  I guess I wasn't too surprised.  I thought I might do better with it.  But no, this was a bit much even for me.  There did not be much in the way of any meat--it was very bony.  Okay they're feet.  I guess they would be bony.  The texture was too coarse and rubbery for me.  It reminded me of a leather shoe that had been tenderized in vinegary brine.   It was all too alien for even my exotic tastes.

         So now it was on to the pickled pork rinds.  Angelina threw in the towel.  She refused to have any part in this one.  I was scared.  It looked like small strips of fat in a pickle jar with some jalapenos mixed in.  The jalapenos looked good, but the pork pieces were less inviting.  It was not too unlike the meat substance you find in a bowl of menudo.  If you are not familiar with menudo I'm going to talk about it in my post tomorrow.  If you've had menudo then you are familiar with that meat substance I'm talking about.

        I sampled my first bite.  Not totally unpleasant, but not invitingly pleasant either.  I was not looking forward to subsequent bites.  I did not like the texture at all.  I was like uncooked bacon or salt pork that had been soaked in vinegar with jalapenos.  I was hoping that it might be chewy, but the texture was more like congealed fat.  It reminded me of strips of cantaloupe that had been dried and then reconstituted in a fatty vinegar brine.  I ate more of this than I did the pigs feet, and yet after several bites the jar still looked full.  I was finished for today.  

        An unpleasant aftertaste and a fear of pigs lingered with me throughout the rest of the day.  And yet hours later my mouth watered when I though of these products.  I am thinking that, like menudo, this might be one of those things that one might have to acquire a taste for.  I'd like to ask someone who likes these products what it is that they like about them.  And there must be a number of people who like these.  Or maybe they are sold as a novelty joke food product to trick unsuspecting people.  If I watch somebody actually eating these and truly savoring them then maybe I'll be convinced.

         Now I'm a big fan of those crunchy crackly deep-fried pork rinds.  I'll buy those every now and then to snack on.  The pickled pork rinds?  In all fairness, I think they might have a place in some recipes or with other foods.  I think they would be really good chopped up into a bowl of pinto beans.  After all I usually have some kind of pork to season my beans and I like to add vinegary chow chow or relish into the beans when they are served.  Pickled pork rinds would probably be very similar to this.  Also I can picture using the pickled pork rinds in some kind of salad.  So far I haven't figure out what kind of salad, but I can imagine some kind of salad.  Maybe they would be good in a dip or a salsa with chips.  But I don't know if I would want to just sit around and snack on pickled pork rinds.

         As for the pigs feet, I really am at a loss (so is the pig I guess).  I understand that pigs feet are often used for soups, stews, and to season beans, but I don't think those are the pickled variety.  I'm thinking that a lot of this might be cultural.  I asked a Latino clerk at my local Ralph's Grocery store and he said there was no way he was going to eat pickled pork rinds or pigs feet.  Then again he seemed like he had probably grown up in the United States.  Maybe it was cultural for him too.

         Maybe someday someone will educate me about eating pickled pigs feet and pork rinds.  Or maybe they'll tell me some other ways to use them other than eating them out of the jar.  It still makes me shudder when I think about it.  And yet my mouth starts salivating when I start thinking about those two jars still in my refrigerator.  Who knows?   Shudder.

          Have any of you ever tried pickled pigs feet or pickled pork rinds?  If so, tell us about your experience.  Are there any other ways to eat these that you know about?   Are you adventurous about trying new things?   Would you be willing to try these items?

         

Hot Chili for a Chilly Day

                        

           Recently I was reading a story in the Los Angeles Times about this thing called a "chili brick".  The chili brick of which they were speaking comes from the Dolores Canning Company in Los Angeles. 

           I was familiar with the Dolores pickled pork rinds and pigs feet, having seen them in the supermaket  and tempted to buy them.  However, it's one of those things I could never quite convince myself to take home with me. Years ago, back in Tennessee, I recall having tried pig's feet and liking them, but I just never got in a habit of keeping a jar of little feet in my refrigerator.  I figure if I had a jar of pickled pork rinds or pig's feet, the first few bites might be an interesting novelty, but the entire jar would never get eaten and have to be eventually thrown away.

         This chili brick was something which I'd never heard of, but it sounded intriguing.  My initial search began at a Ralph's supermarket near my home, but I did not see any chili bricks there.  Thanks to the internet I located the Dolores website to find out where I could find a chili brick.   I must have missed seeing chili bricks in Ralph's because they were listed as a source, but I wasn't going to take any chances.  I went to the Superior Market up the street from my home in Pico Rivera, since they cater mainly to the Hispanic market and I was certain that they would carry the complete line of Dolores products.

         My hunch was correct.  In a freezer case I found the 20 ounce sealed plastic tubs of chili bricks. They are apparently shipped to the stores frozen, but the company recommends that they be displayed in the regular meat counter which may have been where they were displayed at Ralphs.  A 20 oz chili brick at Superior Market was $3.29.  The brick consists of a flavorfully seasoned mixture of finely ground beef and beef hearts.  To prepare you just put the thawed brick in a saucepan and add water or beef broth and heat and stir until the brick is melted.  The pure meat mixture would be ideal for chili dogs or to add to any recipe calling for an all-meat chili mixture.

         Chili bricks were originated in the 1800s by the chuckwagon cooks on cattledrives.  They were made from dried beef and seasonings and formed into bricks for easy storage.  The dehydrated bricks would be mixed with water for an easy on the trail meal for hungry cowboys at the end of a long day driving cattle.  Dolores is one of the few remaining companies to market chili bricks.  They are primarily only available in Southern California but can be ordered online through the Dolores website. 

         I was very pleased with my first Dolores Chili Brick experience.  This was some of the best chili I've made and I have made some pretty darn good chili in the past.  More importantly though, my wife absolutely loved it.  If it pleases her palate then I think I've done pretty well.  By the way, I might mention lest any one think there is any bias here.  My chili experiment was inspired by the article I read in the paper and I was not compensated by the Dolores Company in any way.  However, if they want to send me some of those pickled pigs feet or pork rinds I'd be willing to try them and tell you readers what I think.

         So anyway, without any  further ado, here is my chili recipe:

      Arlee's Realee Tastee Chilee

                              (about 10 bowlfuls)
1  Dolores Chili Brick

1 can beef broth
1 14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes in sauce
1 15 1/2 oz can kidney beans
1 15 1/2 oz can chili beans in zesty sauce
1  29 1/2 oz can of hominy
1   4 oz can green chiles, diced
1 or 2 chopped brown onions
1/2 cup of left over coffee from breakfast
1 tbsp  McCormick Tex Mex Chili Beef Seasoning
3 tbsp   Brown sugar
3 tbsp  granulated sugar
2 tbsp  honey
1/2 cup marsala

        As you are melting down the chili brick in a sauce pan, add in the can of heated up beef broth.   After you've let the chili and broth mix simmer a bit, put it in the crock pot and add in the rest of the ingredients and cook on high for a couple of hours and then turn down to low and you can cook it all day and get it whenever you feel like eating it. If cooking all day and leaving it, you can just start off on low and leave it there.    Refrigerate any leftovers and it'll taste even better the next day.

      Add whatever fixings you like.  It's mighty good just plain with some crackers or cornbread, but I also like to add some chopped onions and shredded cheddar cheese.

       If you want to make it even meatier, throw in some ground beef, smoked sausage, cooked stew beef, or anything else.  Why you can even add cubed smoked ham or spam and that's pretty tasty.  The point is you can add whatever else you want or adjust it in any way you like.  The sugar and honey make for a sweeter chili, but if you want it hot and spicy go crazy adding whatever kinds of peppers you like.  I like it hot, but my wife doesn't do well with real spicy and I figure I can always add some Tabasco when I fix my bowl.  I made some corn muffins to go with my batch of chili.

         This is so easy because you just have to toss it all together and let it cook in the crock pot and forget about it.  I can't resist stirring it periodically and giving it a taste test, but you could put it on in the morning, go to work, and when you come home dinner is waiting.

          An ice cold beverage and some good hot chili.  There you go cowboys and cowgirls-- eat your vittles.