Souse

Ingredients

The meat

• 1.5 kgpig’s trotters, split, plus 500 g pig’s ears and snout if you can get them
• 2 tbspcoarse salt
• 1 tbspfresh lime juice, for washing
• 2bay leaves
• 1onion, halved
• 6black peppercorns
• 3 litreswater

The pickle

• 250 mlfresh lime juice, from about 8 limes
• 2cucumbers, peeled, deseeded and finely diced
• 1large onion, sliced paper thin
• 4spring onions, finely sliced
• 2Scotch bonnets, deseeded and minced
• 4 tbspchopped parsley
• 1 tbspchopped fresh thyme leaves
• 2 tspsalt, plus more to taste
• 500 mlcold water, or reserved cooking liquid, cooled

To serve

• Sliced cucumber
• Johnny cakes or bread

Directions

1. Scrub the trotters hard under running water, scraping the skin with a knife to remove any bristle, then rub with the coarse salt and lime juice and rinse again.
2. Put the meat in a big pot with the water, bay, halved onion and peppercorns. Bring to a boil and skim off the grey foam for the first 10 minutes until the surface runs clear.
3. Simmer, half covered, 1 hr 45 min to 2 hours, until the skin is completely tender and a knife slides through the collagen with no resistance, but the pieces still hold together.
4. Lift the meat out and cool it enough to handle. Strain and reserve 500 ml of the cooking liquid, then chill it so you can lift off the fat.
5. Pull the meat and skin from the bones in bite-sized pieces, discarding the larger bones and any hard gristle. Some cooks leave small bones in; that is a matter of household preference.
6. While the meat is still warm, put it in a large glass or ceramic bowl and pour over the lime juice with 2 tsp salt. Warm meat takes the pickle far better than cold.
7. Add the cucumber, onion, spring onion, Scotch bonnet, parsley and thyme, then the cold water or defatted cooking liquid until everything is just submerged.
8. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours, ideally overnight, turning once. The liquid should be sharply sour, salty and hot enough to make you reach for a drink.
9. Serve cold in bowls with plenty of the pickle liquid spooned over, extra cucumber and bread on the side. Eat within two days.

Technique

• Souse is weekend and Saturday-night food across the Eastern Caribbean, sold from pots at street corners and sometimes with a piece of black pudding on the side.
• The lime does the work of a pickle here, not vinegar. It must be fresh: bottled juice gives a flat, chemical sourness that is immediately obvious in a dish this plain.
• Chilling the cooking liquid and lifting the fat is worth the time. Warm fat sets into unpleasant white flecks in a cold souse.
• Cook the trotters fully soft. Undercooked collagen is rubbery and no amount of pickling fixes it.

Substitutions

• Trotters are the classic cut; pork shoulder or hock cooked the same way makes a meatier, less gelatinous souse and is a common weekday shortcut.
• Chicken feet and wings are used for a lighter chicken souse, cooked only 45 minutes.
• No Scotch bonnet: use 2 tsp minced habanero or 1 tbsp hot pepper sauce.

Variations

• Bajan pudding and souse, served every Saturday with steamed sweet potato pudding.
• A cucumber-heavy Antiguan style with more liquid, drunk as much as eaten.
• Chicken foot souse, the cheaper everyday version.

History

A cold, pickled dish traditionally made from pig’s feet, or other cuts including ears and tail, boiled until tender and then marinated in a lime-and-vinegar-based pickle with cucumber, onion and hot pepper, developed among enslaved and later post-emancipation Caribbean populations as a way to use less-prized cuts of pork that would otherwise go to waste, turning them into a specifically prepared, deliberately seasoned dish rather than simply an afterthought. Its acidic, lime-heavy pickling liquid both flavours and helps preserve the meat in a hot Caribbean climate before reliable refrigeration existed. Souse remains especially popular as a weekend or Saturday-specific dish across several English-speaking Caribbean islands, traditionally sold or prepared on that particular day rather than throughout the week.

Frequently asked questions

What is Souse?

Souse is a snack from Antigua and Barbuda: pig’s feet and trimmings pickled with lime, cucumber and pepper. A cold, pickled dish traditionally made from pig’s feet, or other cuts including ears and tail, boiled until tender and then marinated in a lime-and-vinegar-based pickle with cucumber, onion and hot pepper, developed among enslaved and later post-emancipation Caribbean populations as a way to use less-prized cuts of pork that would otherwise go to waste, turning them into a specifically prepared, deliberately seasoned dish rather than simply an afterthought. Its acidic, lime-heavy pickling liquid both flavours and helps preserve the meat in a hot Caribbean climate before reliable refrigeration existed. Souse remains especially popular as a weekend or Saturday-specific dish across several English-speaking Caribbean islands, traditionally sold or prepared on that particular day rather than throughout the week.

How long does Souse take to make?

Souse takes 30 min of preparation and 2 hr, plus 4 hr pickling of cooking. The recipe makes 6 servings. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Souse?

Yes, within limits. Trotters are the classic cut; pork shoulder or hock cooked the same way makes a meatier, less gelatinous souse and is a common weekday shortcut. Chicken feet and wings are used for a lighter chicken souse, cooked only 45 minutes. No Scotch bonnet: use 2 tsp minced habanero or 1 tbsp hot pepper sauce.

What is the most important thing to get right in Souse?

The lime does the work of a pickle here, not vinegar. It must be fresh: bottled juice gives a flat, chemical sourness that is immediately obvious in a dish this plain.