Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Food & Drink

This Charred Pig Tail Recipe Revamps a Southern Classic

Sam Slaughter
By

Everyone knows bacon is delicious. As are pork chops. As are ribs. As are just about every other cut of pork we’ve ever tried. But do you know what part of the pig is delicious and you may not have tried yet? Pig tails.

A staple in Southern cuisine, pig tails have been cooked now for centuries in a variety of ways. Whether they’re smoked or brined, served with black-eyed peas or collards, they’re a cut of meat that, while you may not have ever contemplated eating before, are worthy of your attention.

Related Videos

This recipe — which takes pig tails and kicks them up a notch thanks to a piquant and citrusy chili lime marinade — comes to us courtesy of chef Marcus Jacobs of Marjie’s Grill in New Orleans.

Charred Pig Tails with Chili Lime Marinade

Marjies Grill charred pig tails recipe
Marjie's Grill

Ingredients:

  • 8 pig tails
  • Seasoned boil*
  • Chili lime marinade**
  • Sea salt
  • Fresh herbs:
    • Mint
    • Cilantro
    • Thai basil
    • Scallions

Method:

  1. Combine ingredients of seasoned boil* and bring to a rolling boil over a high flame. Turn down and simmer for about 30 minutes.
  2. Strain seasoned boil into a clean pot large enough to accommodate the tails and bring to a boil.
  3. Add tails and reduce to a light simmer. Simmer for about 2 hours or until tails are totally tender, but not falling apart. (It’s important not to boil the tails too much or the skin will split.)
  4. Once tails are braised, remove from the boil and allow to cool to room temperature. (Once cool, the tails can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 6 days.)
  5. Light half a chimney of charcoal.
  6. Once coals are completely lit, transfer to one side of your grill so that you’re set up for two-zone grilling.
  7. Make sure your grill grates are clean and well-seasoned and start grilling the tails in batches over the charcoal. If they flare up too much from the fat dripping off of the tails, move them to the cooler zone. This is definitely a hands-on grilling project. You must flip the tails around every couple of minutes until you have them nicely charred, but not burnt the whole way around.
  8. Once your first batch is done, move them to the cooler side of the grill and cook the rest of the tails.
  9. Once all of your tails are cooked, roughly cut them up into 1-inch pieces and pile them onto a warm serving plate.
  10. Smother with the chili lime marinade** and fistfuls of chopped herbs.
  11. Dig in with your hands, get messy, and pair with a bone-dry Riesling or ice-cold cheap American beer.

Marjies Grill charred pig tails recipe 2

Seasoned Boil*

Ingredients:

  • 10 dried chilis
  • 5 heads of garlic, split
  • 3 onions, peeled and cut in half
  • 3 lemons, cut in half
  • 3 oranges, cut in half
  • 3 gallons water
  • 2 cups crawfish boiling spice
  • 2/3 cups soy
  • 1/2 cup fish sauce

Method:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
  2. Season to taste.

Chili Lime Marinade**

Ingredients:

  • 12 stalks of lemongrass, cleaned and sliced thin
  • 6 cloves of garlic, sliced thin
  • 2 Thai chilis, sliced thin
  • 1 cup fish sauce
  • 3/4 cup soy sauce
  • 3/4 cup lime juice
  • 3/4 cup cane syrup
  • 3/4 cup toasted chili powder

Method:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk together.
  2. Season to taste.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Colombian or Kona coffee: Which is the superior drink?
Colombian or Kona coffee: Sweet and spicy, or rich and chocolatey? Which do you prefer?
Ways to Make Coffee

If you're anything of a coffee connoisseur, you're well aware that coffee beans come from coffea plants, which is grown all around the world. Depending on your preference of flavor, boldness, and acidity, you may already have a preferred location from where your coffee originates. Brazil, Ethiopia, India, Honduras, and Vietnam all grow a delicious bean. And while all of these types and their rich, complex flavors are worth exploring, the two coffee varieties that people seem to be the most drawn to at the moment are Kona and Colombian.

While there are over 120 varieties of coffea plant, and each makes its own unique bean, coffee beans are usually broken down into four categories of flavor: Arabica, Robusta, Liberica, and Excelsa.

Read more
How to make your own cold brew coffee at home (no, it isn’t just iced coffee)
Cold brew coffee: Making this popular drink is easier than you think it is
international coffee drinks that arent dalgona cold brew ice

I grew up in a house where iced coffee was made by pouring the hours-old coffee pot leftovers over a glass of ice. Maybe a little milk was added, or, if you were feeling extra fancy, a splash of flavored creamer. Embarrassingly far into adulthood (before Keurig came along and cramped my style), that's how I made my "cold brew." For years, this was how I drank my warm-weather coffee. But oh, did I have it wrong.
In case you're unaware, cold brew, real cold brew, is made using an entirely different method than hot coffee. While hot coffee is generally made by running hot water through finely-ground coffee beans, cold brew is made more like our grandmothers made sun tea - set to steep for a while, becoming flavorful and delicious on its own with nothing added but love, water, and time.
The result is a much smoother, silkier, bolder and more flavorful cup of morning magic. When coffee is steeped this way, much of the bitterness smooths to be much gentler on the palette, allowing you to really taste the flavor of the beans in a whole new way. So how do you make cold brew at home?
There are plenty of gizmos out there, like cold brew coffee makers, jugs, and infusers, but there's no need for these. Like many needless kitchen tools, these accessories end up being shoved into the back of the pantry, never to be seen again. Our favorite method of making cold brew coffee involves nothing more than a good old-fashioned French press.

How to make cold brew coffee

Read more
This Toronto cocktail recipe is the perfect whiskey drink
Escape to Canada with the lovely Toronto cocktail
drinkers guide to aspen aspenkitchen obiwanoldfashioned3

When you think about signature cocktails, names like Tom Collins, Brandy Alexander, and Old Fashioned come to mind. Yet, for whiskey lovers especially, there's an unsung hero that's deserving of a big-time comeback. It's named Toronto, and it's a cocktail well-suited for the chilly days of midwinter.

The drink dates back to 1922 and is a riff on the beloved Old Fashioned. It's a great whiskey cocktail, for certain, but also one that can be experimented with, as the best versions tend to involve a mix of a couple of different whiskies. The key ingredient, however, is Fernet, the intense and medicinal amaro from Italy.

Read more