HAM HOCK, PEAR AND PARSLEY TERRINE FROM ‘GOOD FOOD FOR YOUR TABLE’ BY MELROSE AND MORGAN
It all comes down to how you feel about pigs’ trotters. This is a recipe that asks you to buy one from your butcher, sliced lengthways in two, before boiling it with the ham in cider and aromatics for four hours.
Either you can or you can’t. I wasn’t sure I could, but it turns out I can. And by the time the boiling has ended, you actually don’t have a pig’s trotter any more, but pieces of knuckle and gristle. I know that doesn’t help those who can’t face cooking the trotter, but if you can handle the trotter you can handle the knuckle, no sweat.
And my goodness it’s worth it. Don’t stint on the spices, follow the recipe to the letter and you will be rewarded with salty ham suspended in a sweetly fragrant natural jelly, crying out for sourdough and mustard, to be eaten as part of a festive spread or scoffed on Boxing Day, snuggled up in front of a rom-com with your favourite person.
Happy Christmas.
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