pig’s ear ragout served on toast

first came across this dish (this preparation) at the fabulous lunch at dinner by heston bluemnthal in london on 15.5.2015.

ragout of pig’s ear @ dinner by heston blumenthal

& it was an outstanding dish. the pigs ear gelatinous texture was exquisite & the sauce & flavours in this preparation was simply special. 🙂

it was robust but very tasty & also not satiating as expected. 🙂

pig’s ear of course is a fairly common chinese & teochew dish, and i have done braised pig’s ears couple times eg a very good kueh chap lunch for my friends on 4.8.2014.

pig’s ear ragout served on toast

i did not have heston blumenthal’s recipe, so i basically used my kueh chap braised pig’s ears recipe & added 1 cup of red wine. ^^

pig’s ear ragout served on toast

my dish looks nothing like the very fine dining dish at dinner by heston blumenthal of course.

still, it was a very tasty dish & excellent as a tapas or served as a appetizer platter for a course dinner, which i did recently at a very enjoyable 12pax 12-course homecooked dinner for my friends on 5.8.2015.

i varied my usual kueh chap braising sauce recipe & added 1 cup of red wine. i used the slow crockpot roast method (starting from cold on low heat) for the 1/2head+ear i bought from sheng shiong, and texture was perfect in about 6 hrs.

for the pig’s ear ragout, i took out the ear & minced/chopped it, took out some sauce & heat the minced pig’s ear & reduced the sauce.

flavour was excellent & the gelatinous texture was just wonderful!

i do not really see this dish though as a full appetizer dish though for my dinners, so it is not worthwhile to be more elaborate. instead i was already making the head cheese terrine with the same preparation, and the pig’s ear ragout was part of the appetizer platter & i used ordinary plain bread toasted in a desktop oven & cut into tiny 6cmx6cm pieces so diners can scoop just small amount of pig’s ears ragout & try a very small tasting portion. my friends though ended up making more toasted bread for themselves & finished up the ragout.

c.h.e.f andy

Ingredients:

• 500g pig head meat
• 100g pig ear

braising sauce

• 2 – 3 tbsp dark sauce
• 4 tbsp light soy sauce
• 2 tbsp zhengjiang black vinegar
• 1 tbsp heap sugar
• 1 cinnamon bark
• 2 star anise
• 1 bulb peeled garlic
• 3cm sliced ginger
• 1 tsp 5-pice powder
• water to cover meat

Directions:

1. mix the braising sauce.
2.  scalding the pig head after cleaning (use a large kitchen knife to scrap off hair from the belly & face) to remove the scums. place pig head & ear in the crockpot, add the braising sauce to cover the meat completely, then turn on low & braise for about 6hrs. you can also use a meat thermometer. set it at 83degC. the mild low temperature braising results in a gentler, moist & tender meat.
3. take out the pig’s ear & minced/chopped it, take out some sauce & heat the minced pig’s ear & reduced the sauce.
4. put the pig’s ear ragout in a ramekin. when serving, cover with kitchen towel & heat for 30s in microwave.
5. toast 2 white bread in a toaster, cut away the ends & cut each slice into 4 pieces. serve the ragout on the bread.