Every Friday would usually be “Carry Out Friday” and even more when it was payday Friday.  Mom likes to rest from cooking on weekend evenings so whenever she and my Dad would come back from work they would stop by the “Lady on the Corner” and buy Lomo Guisado w/ Frijolitos & Rice and a delish Mustard Potato Salad, (mom always hates it when the lady runs out of Lomo & Potato Salad, and sells instead Pollo Guisado and Elbow Pasta Salad (ensalada de coditos), me too!

The “Sao” always cheap, she sells them in little ziplocs, and trust me not as fancy as the one I ‘m showing on this picture haha!  Always hoping it will be properly cleaned, not in the sense of hygiene per se, but presentation wise, we already trust this lady’s food.

I have noticed while shopping for Pig’s Feet in DC area or NoVa grocery stores, the feet always look very clean, no hair, no weird smell or anything so that’s pretty amazing for such an not popular item.  I recommend, unless you have an amazing butcher’s knife, to buy them aready cut in pieces, not like the one I have on this package, since it was almost impossible to cut it.  I tried a different presentation, you let me know if it makes a difference to you at all.

A couple of weeks ago I shared this dish with many friends and the Panamanian Dinner I gave to Chowhound Friends, some loved them, some didn’t care for it, and some felt just too grossed, so that means for us Pig’s Trotter lovers that there will be more!

For those who want to make this at home, give it a try, it’s amazing to serve as an appetizer on a hot day!  With a cold beer or like my dad likes it a very cold Rum & Orange Juice!

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Ingredients (Serves 6 people, small portions)

Prep-Time 1 hour  – Overall time 3 hours (1 week in the fridge should be ok).

1.5-2 lbs Pig’s Feet

juice of 10-14 limes

1 10″ cucumber + 1 small cucumber (sliced, remove seeds and peel)

1 medium white onion

1 scotch bonnet pepper or a thai pepper

Salt & Pepper

White vinegar

Water

Directions

1.  Place a big Pot with water & salt with the feet already in, bring it to a boil and cook until tender, 30-60 mins.

2. Chop onions thin or like sticks, whatever you prefer, toss salt, sliced small cucumber, lime juice and adjust with water and vinegar to your taste, add the thinly sliced pepper, use half of it if you are not used to hot peppers. And please wear gloves and wash the chopping board and knives onces you are done with it. Read NOTE

3. Marinate them covered with plastic wrap inside the fridge until the Pig is ready.

4.  Once your pig is soft take it out of the pot, place it in a bowl and pour all the liquid you have the cucumbers & onions together.  Wait until it cools off, and marinate covered in fridge 2 hours- 3 days.

5.  When ready to serve, discard the cucumbers and add the other sliced ones so they can marinate a little before serving without being soggy and still with a crisp to it.  You could serve it room temperature or cold, I like it both ways!

This is how we eat it in my house! But if you want to make it “friendlier” looking check the picture under this one…

Slice the Sao and serve it with some juice, cucumbers & onions, so your guests never see the bone, though they are missing all the juiciness!

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Suggestion, serve this with Patacones (double fried Smashed Green Plantains) or anything that comes in mind that’s warm to make contrast with this great dish.

NOTE. I found out i’m a little allergic to hot peppers and several times I’ve hurt with myself using them, even jalapeños!)  If you get in contact with the pepper and your skin starts burning put very cold milk or sour cream and it will help, that’s what I did, took a benadryl so I could sleep, yes it was that bad.

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¡a comer!

Yes I was baking the Mamallena in pijamas! hihihi

Talking to dear Steve and Penelope about having a potluck I always mentioned how I would love them to have a taste of Panamanian cuisine whenever it was possible, and since there is no restaurant in DC area that serves Panamanian cuisine I decided to take responsibility for spreading the love!

Having lunch at Cafe Assorti with them Penelope suggested me cooking for them with their help instead of having a Potluck, at first I thought yay it would be fun, then I thought what if they don’t like it?  Then I realized many of Panamanian dishes are very similar to Caribbean (Puerto Rico & Cuba), Ropa Vieja, Arroz con Pollo, etc.  So they wanted the not so common Panamanian dishes such as:

Appetizers

Hojaldres (fried bread)

Patacones rellenos con queso (double fried green plantains stuffed with cheese)

Empanadas de Maiz con Tuna (corn empanadas stuffed with tuna)

Entrees

Chorizo Guisado (sauteed chorizo in tomato sauce)

Yuca al Mojo (cassava w/ lime juice, olive oil, garlic, butter & cilantro)

Lengua Guisada en Vino (cows tongue in wine sauce)

Ensalada Rusa o de Fiesta (russian potato salad, or party salad)

Sopa de Pata de Vaca (ox feet soup)

Arroz con Guandú y Coco (rice with coconut & green pigeon peas)

Saus (pickled pigs trotters)

Desserts

Mamallena con Helado de vainilla (raisin bread pudding with vanilla ice cream)

Kekis (ginger-unrefined sugar cane-molasses-coconut soft cookies)

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So as you can see there is no sancocho, or tres leches, or sopa borracha, or rabito de puerco or camarones al ajillo, from all the options I gave them this is what they pick and boy did I get great feedback.

On the negative side I learned a lot trying to make the corn empanadas, it was a difficult task because in Panama we use fresh cooked corn and then grind it, but Steve and I drove all the way to Landover to buy fresh Corn Masa just to find out they grind it uncooked, but it wasn’t all bad since that day we had the best chicken I’ve had in DC area so far, Jerk Chicken from a Jamaican joint, it made my day!

After the failure with the Fresh Masa which fried tasted like Frito Lays, I decided to use Masa Harina, at the same time my mom made some tests from Panama to check on this and she said it was perfect, but she used a different corn flour.  My masa harina did not work well, and so when I travel back to Panama this is something I have to learn more about, CORN!

I will share some thoughts and pictures and apologize for not having pictures of the dinner itself but just the process, it was a crazy weekend, started at the restaurant, started selling bread and this dinner, you can imagine.

Now let’s check it out!

Preparing Coconut for Rice and Kekis

This is the unfamous Beef Tongue

So its right tender make sure you boil it for 45mins- 1 hour with salt and water, a soft boil & clean properly.

Sautee your veggies and then add the Tongue

Once you add the Tongue sautee for few minutes and then tomato paste, sautee add water and wine and make sure you scrape  the bottom of the pot with your spoon to obtain those caramelization flavours to your sauce!

This is the final result, this dish I made a day ahead and simmered a little more before serving with a side of Patacones, yuca and Russian Potato Salad.

Chorizo Guisado was pretty simple, buy good chorizo, chop some vegetables, throw in oven 35 minutes at 375F then just toss in a pot with tomato sauce, sugar, water and chicken stock =)

Toast the coconut for the Kekis and grate ginger

Say hi to my daughter, Lady Mixer – For this Keki I worked a recipe by the Chef Melissa (Cooking Diva) and did some variations to it, I will share my recipe also!

And this is the delish delish Keki just as they sell it on the streets of Panama, a touch fluffier and more flavourful!

Brine chicken overnight, then marinate few hours with garlic, herbs & oil, pat dry and bake with some chicken fat until cook (i used dark meat for this).  Save the liquid and combine with chicken stock for cooking beets and shredded chicken for Potato Salad (delish flavours at the end!, promise will share recipe soon!).

Sao or Saus (Pickled Pig’s Trotters), for those interested on this I will share the recipe so you can give it a try, 50% love it, 25% didn’t care for it, 25% disliked it, so it’s a matter of taste, me I love it!

And my Empanada disaster, this is how I will end this post because yes it was a disaster, yes they took too much of my time, but also yes it is a new challenge i have yet to face again and again and again once I arrive in Panama! I must add they had good flavour though!

¡a comer!

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