2large cloves garliccrushed with the back of a knife
Sprig of fresh thyme or a pinch of driedoptional
Optional Brine
Legs and trotters of one deergoat or lamb, cleaned and cut with a saw into ⅓rds
¼cupsalt
2qts water
Instructions
Optional brine
Mix the salt and water until dissolved and brine the trotters and bones in it for 4 hours, or up to overnight (you can also just sprinkle them with salt if you're in a hurry.
Smoking
Smoke the trotters and leg bones for 2 hours at 250F.
Build the stock
Put the smoked trotters, leg bones in a crock pot or similar cooking vessel. Add the broth ingredients, putting the herbs on the bottom, cover completely with water by ½ inch and cook on low heat for 24 hours. It took me about 10-12 cups of water to cover my trotters.
Strain and reserve the meat if you want
Cool the trotters in their liquid until you can handle them, then, using a slotted spyder or slotted spoon, fish remove the trotters and vegetables to a bowl. Remove every vegetable, herb, and bone except the hooves and discard, slipping off the connective tissue and leaving it in the bowl.
For the hooves, take a small soup spoon and dig into the hoof itself to remove the choice “meat” inside, putting it all to one side of the bowl. Discard the cleaned hooves or save them to make Peruvian maracas. Save the stock for making soup, and save the "meat" for making trotter cromesquis, or one of the other recipes I outline here.