Pieds-Paquets with Sauce Charcutière
If you’re French or a Francophile, you know what these are supposed to be: sheep tripe and pig’s trotters cooked together. We didn’t know that, but we knew the name. We just made what we thought it ought to be and it turned out well, if completely unlike the original (we think). This is braised lamb and pig’s trotter with greens and herbs, wrapped in caul fat. The sauce—a French classic with gherkins, mustard, and shallots—is also perfect with chops and liver.
Recipe information
Yield
Serves 4
Ingredients
SAUCE CHARCUTIÈRE
PACKAGE
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Place the lamb, pig’s trotters, and oil in a deep baking dish covered with buttered foil or a Dutch oven covered with its lid. Cover the meats with all the vegetables, the thyme, and the garlic. Sprinkle with the salt and pepper, and pour in the wine. Add water to barely cover the meat.
Step 2
Cover with a sheet of buttered aluminum foil and place in the oven. Bake for 3 1/2 to 4 hours, or until the trotters are easily pierced with a fork and the lamb is tender enough to shred. Check from time to time and add more water as needed to maintain the original level.
Step 3
While the meats are cooking, make the sauce. Pour the stock into a small pot, bring to a simmer over high heat, and simmer until reduced by one-third. Stir in the mustard, butter, vinegar, gherkins, capers, shallot, tarragon, pepper, and lardons; reduce the heat to low, and cook for 5 minutes to blend the flavors. Taste and adjust the seasoning, adding more vinegar if you want a bit more bite. Remove from the heat and let cool before serving.
Step 4
Remove the meats from the oven, uncover, and let cool. Remove the meats from the stock with a large slotted spoon, and transfer to a big plate or a tray. When the meats are cool enough to handle with your hands, start roughly shredding the lamb meat, discarding any bones. Place the lamb in a bowl. For the trotters, pull the meat off the bones with your hands, a knife, or a fork, discarding any bones and other unusable bits. The trotter meat is gelatinous, and it will be the glue you use to hold the packages together. Chop the trotter meat into small chunks and add to the lamb. Strain the cooking liquid through a fine-mesh sieve into a small bowl and set aside.
Step 5
To make the packages, preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Add the spinach and all the herbs to the meats and mix well. Then add 1 cup (250 ml) of the strained cooking liquid and mix well with your hands. The mixture should feel malleable and moist. If it feels dry, add up to 1/2 cup (125 ml) more liquid. Taste and adjust the seasoning.
Step 6
Form the meat mixture into 16 balls of equal size (about the size of a lemon). Lay the caul fat on a flat work surface, space the balls evenly on top, then cut the caul fat into squares large enough to encase the balls individually. Wrap each ball in caul fat, covering it completely.
Step 7
Select a baking dish in which the balls will fit snugly, and oil it with the olive oil. Give each ball an elongated shape by squeezing it gently with your hands. Bake for 20 minutes, or until heated through and the tops are nicely browned.
Step 8
Serve right away with the sauce and a pile of fries.
