Pig's Trotters and Ginger Vinegar Stew

Pig's trotters and ginger vinegar stew (豬腳薑) is a Cantonese Chinese dish traditionally prepared for new mothers, but which is now also a popular everyday dish. The main ingredients of Pig's Trotters and Ginger Vinegar Stew are: pig trotters, ginger, Chinese sweet black vinegar, eggs, salt, and oil. You want to be able to fill your pot, so actual quantities will depend on your pot.
Ingredients
- 4 pigs trotters
- 12 large eggs
- 500 g ginger root
- Enough sweet black vinegar to cover your other ingredients
Steps
- Hard boil eggs. Refresh and set aside to cool.
- Wash, peel and thickly slice ginger. Bruise with flat of knife.
- Fry ginger in oil and salt at high heat, about 5 minutes. Set aside.
- Remove hair from trotters by singeing with open flame (chef's blowtorch or gas hob), then scraping with knife.
- Blanch trotters in boiling water until skin tightens and exterior changes colour. Refresh in cold water until cool. Drain.
- Dry trotters mostly with clean cloth. Section across joints, then lengthwise.
- Rub trotters with salt. Heat frying pan or wok. Brown trotters in their own fat.
- Place ginger and trotters in earthenware pot. Add sweet vinegar. Boil, lower heat and simmer about 20 minutes.
- Peel eggs and add to pot. Simmer 10 more minutes.
- Remove from heat. Set aside for a day. Occasionally warm gently over low heat, simmer, then cool. Traditionally repeat three times in a day. Stew sets into a jelly.
Notes from the original
- The tradition is to cook this dish in a tall earthenware pot with a glazed interior. The acidic vinegar and cooking method will leach metals from iron pots into the stew, more so than with water based stews.
- The stew will set into a jelly; reheat to serve. The stew is eaten over two to three days, as the trotters, ginger and eggs are consumed, more boiled eggs can be added to the heated stew, initially the liqueur is retained and consumed sparingly only when it has significantly reduced and thickened after a couple of days of heating, cooling and topping up is it at its best. The skin, tendons and cartilage of the trotters is eaten.
- Avoid using metal utensils when eating and serving.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Pig's Trotters and Ginger Vinegar Stew” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-06-21, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Photo. Pig feet ginger.jpg by Pokman817, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia. Resized; otherwise unchanged.






