Crubeens (Cork Pig's Trotters)
Photo: Helen · CC BY-SA 2.0

History

Crubeens (from the Irish crubin, meaning hoof) were sold by street vendors outside Cork pubs from the late 19th century until the 1960s as a working-class pub snack: the trotter slow-boiled in a stock pot of allspice and bay, served in the hand with a glass of stout. The Coal Quay markets ran the trade until the 1950s, when refrigeration changed butcher-shop economics. Today only a handful of Cork city kitchens still preserve the dish, notably Cornstore on Cornmarket Street and the Mutton Lane Inn during traditional autumn months; the Coal Quay revival markets occasionally bring back a vendor running the original boil. Pat O'Connell at the English Market still supplies the raw trotters.

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Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 45 minTotal 5 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 4 pig's trotters, scrubbed (ask your butcher to split each lengthwise)
  • For the brine: 100g sea salt, 50g brown sugar, 2L water
  • 2 onions, halved
  • 2 carrots, halved
  • 2 celery sticks
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 10 black peppercorns
  • 4 cloves
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds
  • 150g panko or coarse white breadcrumbs
  • 60g unsalted butter
  • 2 tsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 tbsp finely chopped parsley
  • Wholegrain mustard and brown soda bread, to serve

Method

  1. Dissolve salt and sugar in the brine water. Submerge trotters and refrigerate 24 hours.
  2. Drain and rinse. Place trotters in a deep pot with onions, carrots, celery, bay, peppercorns, cloves, and fennel.
  3. Cover with cold water by 5cm. Bring slowly to a simmer, then cook gently for 4 hours until the meat releases from the bone with a fork.
  4. Lift trotters carefully onto a tray. Pick off any large pieces of skin and arrange the trotters cut-side up.
  5. Brush trotters with mustard, then press a thick layer of breadcrumbs onto the cut surface. Dot with butter.
  6. Heat the grill to high. Crisp the trotters 4 to 5 minutes until the crumbs are deep golden.
  7. Scatter parsley. Serve with wholegrain mustard, brown soda bread, and a glass of stout. Eat with your hands the Cork way.
  8. Reserve the cooking liquor; it sets to a clear pork stock that freezes well for stews.

Tip from the editors. Split trotters cook in half the time of whole ones; ask the butcher to do it, because the saw cut at home is rarely clean.

Where to eat crubeens (cork pig's trotters)

Crubeens (Cork Pig's Trotters) in Cork

Cornstore ★ 3.9

€€€€ Tasting €45SeafoodChef the kitchen team at Cornstore

A converted Victorian corn market housing one of Cork's most reliably-executed steak and seafood rooms. The baked crab mornay and dry-aged Irish beef cuts.

Book3 to 5 days ahead

Directions Book

The Mutton Lane Inn ★ 4.4

€ Traditional pub, Hidden laneCity Centre

Cork's most photogenic traditional pub, reached down a laneway off Patrick Street that the English Market guidebooks barely mention. The dark, fire-warmed.

Why locals goMutton Lane is a narrow passage off Patrick Street that leads into the English Market complex.

Directions

Jacobs on the Mall ★ 4.1

€€€€ Tasting €55TurkishChef the kitchen team at Jacobs

The most dramatic dining room in Cork, inside the vaulted former Turkish baths on South Mall. A 130-seat restaurant with a private room, serving broadly.

Book1 week ahead

Directions Book

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