Pork trotter jelly is a dish that is unique to the Teochew food culture in Singapore. This dish originated from the Shantou province in China, where the Teochews populate and came to Singapore from. The dish makes use of the low grade parts of the meat, including the trotter meat and the skin. These are boiled with fragrant spices in water over a low heat for many hours so as to allow the collagen and gelatin to completely dissolve into the broth, thereby allowing the broth to set and form into a jelly. Because it is such a time consuming dish to whip up, it is hence not just an uncommon dish to find at the heartland hawker centers, but also one that is rarely prepared at home.
