Patas de Cerdo en Salsa is pig trotters slowly braised in a sauce of onion, garlic, tomato, and white wine until the skin and connective tissue melt into the sauce, thickening it naturally. The meat is unctuous and gelatinous; the sauce is dark and glossy. It is the great 'peasant' dish of Castile, made from the cheapest cut, transformed by patience.
Patas de Cerdo en Salsa is the classic 'poor man's dish' of inland Castile and Extremadura, where every part of the pig was used after the matanza (slaughter). Trotters were nearly free, and their high collagen made them perfect for slow braising — the skin and connective tissue melt into the sauce, naturally thickening it without flour. The dish is the ancestor of the modern vogue for off-cuts and nose-to-tail eating.
A bowl of dark, glossy sauce with pieces of pig trotter, the meat falling off the bone, the skin translucent and tender. The sauce is rich and gelatinous, clinging to the spoon. Eat it with crusty bread and a glass of red wine, on a cold winter evening.
The trotters are first blanched to remove impurities, then braised very slowly (2-3 hours) in the sauce. The long cooking dissolves the collagen in the skin and connective tissue, which thickens the sauce naturally and makes the meat tender. The sauce is reduced at the end until it coats a spoon and is glossy.
Variations
Some add chorizo or blood sausage to the braise; some add chickpeas; some use pig ears and snout too.
On the Palate
Where Patas de Cerdo en Salsa sits in the Spanish flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
8 steps · 50 min active + 2 hours 10 min waiting
- 15 min
Blanch 4 pig trotters in boiling water 5 minutes; drain; rinse.
- 28 min
In a wide pot, soften sliced onion and garlic in olive oil 8 minutes.
- 35 min
Add grated tomato; cook 5 minutes; add sweet paprika off the heat.
Watch outStir the paprika in off the heat — it scorches in seconds on a hot pan and turns the whole sauce bitter.
- 43 min
Return to heat; add the trotters, white wine, bay leaf, and water to cover.
- 5120 min
Simmer covered 2 hours until trotters are very tender.
- 615 min
Uncover; reduce the sauce until glossy and coating the spoon.
Watch outReduce the uncovered sauce until it turns glossy and coats the spoon — that's the trotter collagen thickening it naturally.
- 75 min
Adjust salt; rest 5 minutes.
- 82 min
Serve in deep bowls with bread.
Archive tool suggestions — not reviewed
These legacy suggestions have not been evidence-reviewed and are not presented as required tools.
