Dad had a butcher shop in a small town and when I was a child I used to watch my mother make meat. She used to cook ox trotters for hours in a huge pot on the old wood stove. When she was so soft that her bones were clean enough, she took the soft mass of meat and sinew, chopped it up, and mixed it with the clear broth that was left in the pot. This magically turned into a hard jelly in the fridge.

As a young mother, I watched her make meat for church bazaars while trying to keep my two active youngsters out of trouble. Now, many years after her death, I only cook for myself and try to imitate the flavor of the meat that I used to make, because the exact recipe was never written. Neither is it now since few people still do it.

Brawn is so quick and simple when prepared in a pressure cooker and I have found it to be a great resource to have around the house.

Will need:

• 1 kg of well cleaned ox trotters. (I buy it frozen at the supermarket butcher
• Enough water to cover little hands in a pressure cooker
• salt and pepper
• 1 – 2 tablespoons of vinegar for every liter of water

I remember that my mother’s meat tasted slightly sour and I read that vinegar draws calcium out of the bones. Ma was born in 1903 and her mother 25 years earlier. Now where did housewives in the 19th century learn this?

Method:

• Cook the meat in a pressure cooker for about 1 1/2 – 2 hours
• Let cool with lid on until contents are cool enough to handle.
• Strain and remove the bones.
• Chop the very soft solids and put them back in the broth.
• and add more salt if needed Pour into containers of your choice.
• Mine goes in the fridge in an oblong Pyrex dish covered with aluminum foil.

When done, there is a thin layer of soft fat on top that can be easily scraped off before serving. It doesn’t freeze well.

Seasonings can vary and nowadays I add a clove minced onion, a few peppercorns, a few herbs like thyme and a sprig of rosemary for extra subtle flavor. I only use ox trotters and not beef leg, as my mother used to do when she prepared meat for the church bazaars. I prefer the clear jelly and the smooth textured residue that fell off the bones like it used to in my early childhood.

Sometimes the meat containing beef curry is also placed in the form of a bread and thinly sliced ​​for serving. Others may prefer to add squares of sliced ​​ham or other cold cuts, chopped hard-boiled egg with finely chopped parsley, small cubes of multi-colored cooked vegetables such as beets and pickled gherkins or carrots and peas.

I personally crave the taste of early childhood when I tasted what my mother must have tasted at her childhood home on the family farm, while watching her own mother make meat. Perhaps vinegar was also used as a preservative in those days before refrigeration, hence the spiciness of Ma’s meat?

Enjoy!