Last Sunday I made the Superior Stock from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. This was mostly in preparation for the upcoming Best Wonton Soup recipe, but I also needed another two cups of stock for Zha Cai Rousi Miàn (Sichuan Pork and Pickle Soup).

The hardest part of the recipe is acquiring and using pig’s trotters. I know some people eat meat but don’t want to think about where it comes from. I’m a big believer that if you’re going to eat meat, you should be fully aware that you’re eating animals. But something about pig feet got to me on a visceral level. I think it’s both that they’re so big and also look, to me, like something that should not be eaten.

I thought I was going to have to get them at Buford Highway Farmer’s Market or Super H Mart. I got them at Your DeKalb Farmers Market (YDFM). They’re whole, frozen, and in packs of two of there. Turns out I should have gotten them from Super H Mart. Kenji calls for the feet to be split or sliced. I needed to go to Super H Mart for noodles anyways, and they had them fresh and already sliced. YDFM had a sign with the price saying they do not cut pig’s feet.

I opted to try splitting them. This was impossible with them frozen, so I warmed them in some water over low heat in the wok, periodically taking them out and making progress splitting between the toes and down the middle as they thawed. I never made it all the way through. There was a bone at the ankle end that was too solid to get through.

With that done, the actual first step of the recipe is to boil the pig’s feet, chicken backs, and country ham. Kenji calls for “Chinese Jinhua ham, American country ham, or prosciutto or Serrano scraps.” I just got a pack of pre-sliced country ham. Kenji only wants three ounces of it.

All of that boils for about 10 minutes and then drained, and everything gets rinsed and cleaned. It goes back in the wok along with kombu, dried shrimp, scallions, ginger, and napa cabbage leaves. That simmers for three hours. I topped off with water periodically, though Kenji doesn’t instruct to do that. It was needed to get a two quart yield.

After it simmers, all the solids are discarded, the stock is strained through a fine-mesh sieve, and then stored. Kenji suggests defatting if using immediately, or waiting until it has congealed in the fridge and then removing the fat at the top, which is what I did.

It is quite a gelatinous stock and came out much more opaque than the Everyday Chicken and Ginger Stock.

Is it worth the hassle of the pig’s feet? I don’t know. Certainly not with them whole and frozen. Getting them pre-sliced at Super H Mart is the way to go.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.