Cantonese Style Pork Feet in Ginger Vinegar

Whenever I talk about food, the conversation always leads back to my idol/hero of the culinary world. He is a food critic (well, also a columnist, author, television host, movie producer, and restaurant owner) who has a lot of international experience. His family is originally from Guangdong, a very fitting birthplace for a food critic! Like a Chinese saying advices, one should “be born in Suzhou, live in Hangzhou, eat in Guangzhou, die in Liuzhou” since Suzhou is a beautiful place, said to be the birthplace of many beauties, Hangzhou has beautiful landscape, a comfortable environment for living, Guangzhou is renowned for its cuisine, and Liuzhou has great wood, good for building coffins. But Chua Lam, my idol, is actually born in Singapore. He initially wanted study art in France, but went to Japan instead. After this, he moved to Hong Kong and has stayed there since. 

Chua Lam has written many books and articles on food and various other topics. He also hosted many travel shows where he introduced cuisines from many different countries! What I am most impressed with is his free-spirited character, sense of humor, and admirable ideas about food (and the signature orange bag he always carries with him). Although society is always promoting healthier methods of cooking and eating, Chua Lam is persistent about using lard in cooking and drinking alcohol. He believes that ingredients should be cooked in simple and traditional ways. I also agree with his philosophy and that’s why I am not a very big fan of fusion cuisine. 

Speaking of traditional cuisine, I have a special recipe I want to introduce today. It is called 豬腳薑 in Chinese, translated as Cantonese Style Pork Feet in Ginger Vinegar. It is a dish that Cantonese people eat after a baby has been born. Usually the baby’s family is the one who cooks this dish. They would usually cook many portions and distribute it to their relatives and friends to celebrate the baby’s birth and to heal the baby’s mother’s weakened state after giving birth. Although this is the main purpose for cooking this dish, this dish can also be eaten at dim sum or cooked whenever someone has a craving for it. And that is exactly what our family had this weekend. 

Cantonese Style Pork Feet in Ginger Vinegar

Ingredients
(Portions can be adjusted depending how many servings you want to make)
Ginger (peeled and pounded once)
Eggs
Pork Feet
Sweet Vinegar

Directions

1. After peeling the ginger and pounding it once, wait for the ginger to dry then use a saucer to sauté it and add it into a pot of sweet vinegar to soak the ginger. Boil the mixture for one hour. 
2. Pour boiled water over the pork feet to get rid of the meat smell and put it in the sweet vinegar mix and boil the mixture for another 2 hours. Let the mixture sit for several days.   
3. Put in eggs and boil the mixture for another hour. Then it is ready for serving. 

After cooking it for several days, the pork feet and eggs should have entirely soaked in the favor from the sweet vinegar and ginger, giving the final product a mix of sweet and sour taste and a hint of spiciness from the ginger. Although this is a recipe that takes over several days to cook, the taste is definitely worth the amount of time spent!