- 8 fresh pigs' feet (not pickled!), ideally the front ones
- 2 large onions
- 2 large carrots
- 2 bay leaves
- Bunch of parsley
- 12 peppercorns
- 1 egg, beaten
- 125g / 4 ounces dried breadcrumbs
- Bacon fat or oil for roasting
- Parsley to garnish
Wash the pigs' feet well. Sometimes they have some bristles left on them: you can either scrape these off, or leave them where they are -- cooking will soften them (or even dissolve them), and you can scrape them off afterwards.
If you simply boil them naked, they may fall apart: so it makes for a much more attractive final result (and crubeens that are a lot easier to handle) if you wrap them in cheesecloth first. As in the picture, for each pig's trotter, cut a piece of cheesecloth that's a roughly couple of feet long and eighteen inches wide. Place the trotter on the piece of cheesecloth and roll it up; then twist the ends until they're cordlike, bring them together at the middle of the trotter, and tie them together.
When the trotters are wrapped, put them into a large pot with the onions, carrots, bay leaves, parsley and peppercorns: cover with cold water and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer gently for 2-3 hours, until the meat is tender.
Remove the trotters carefully from the cooking liquid, and allow them to drain in a colander, still wrapped, until they're easy to handle. Then unwrap them carefully. (They may try to fall apart on you if they're tender enough. This is a good sign, but can make things exciting, so be careful.) If necessary, pat the trotters dry with paper towels / kitchen paper.
Have the beaten egg and breadcrumbs ready in separate dishes. (We used cornflake crumbs for our example: they worked very well.) Dip each crubeen in the beaten egg, then roll in breadcrumbs. Repeat is you desire an extra thick crust.
Preheat the oven to 220C / 450F. Heat the bacon fat or oil in a shallow roasting dish. Place the trotters in the dish and spoon the fat or oil over them. Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes until crisp and golden, basting again with the fat about halfway through the cooking time. When finished roasting, remove each crubeen or pair of crubeens to a separate plate. Garnish with the spare parsley and serve immediately with soda bread and stout.
