Sweet and sour pork cheeks recipe

Mark Sargeant
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Pork cheeks are moist and tender when cooked and have bags of flavour. Because of their size you will need three or four each, so if you are doing this recipe for six or more make sure you leave plenty of time for prepartion, as they can be a bit fiddly. The trick to this dish is to make sure that you caremalize the cheeks well in the honey to get a gorgeous golden-brown colour, otherwise they will look a little anaemic.

Ingredients

3 tbsp Olive oil
1 pinch Sea salt
1 pinch Freshly ground black pepper
16 Pig's cheeks (about 700g), trimmed of fat and sinew
3 tbsp Honey
2 Carrots, peeled and chopped
1 Leek, chopped
3 Sticks of celery, chopped
1 Onion, peeled and chopped
2 Cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1 Bay leaf
2 Sprigs of fresh thyme
8 Cloves
1 tbsp Tomato purée
750 ml Brown chicken stock
125 ml White wine

Details

Cuisine: Oriental
Recipe Type: Main
Difficulty: Easy
Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 195 mins
Serves: 4

Step-by-step

Preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3. Heat the oil in a casserole dish.
Season the cheeks, coat them with 2 tablespoons of honey and brown them over a high heat until golden. Set aside.
Heat the remaining oil in a casserole dish with a tight-fitting lid. Add the carrots, leek, celery, onion and garlic, then cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the bay leaf, thyme, cloves and tomato purée, then cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
Now add the remaining tablespoon of honey and cook for another 2-3 minutes to caramelize all the vegetables.
Add the stock and wine and bring to the boil. Season, cover and transfer to the oven. After 2.5-3 hours, remove the cheeks from the oven, lift them from the stock and reserve. Strain the stock and place in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to the boil and allow the mixture to reduce to a semi-sticky sauce before putting the cheeks back into it. Warm through for 2-3 minutes and serve on top of hot buttered noodles.