Paul Flynn’s braised pork cheeks

Paul Flynn’s braised pork cheeks

Pork cheeks are delicious delicacies, tender and sticky and packed full of flavour, however they maybe difficult to get but you can use chunks of pork shoulder instead, just get your butcher to take off all the skin, trim the fat and cut then into 3” chunks.

Ingredients

• 12 pork cheeks
• 1 medium onion diced
• 1 carrot diced
• 1 stick of celery chopped
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 1 clive of garlic crushed
• 330 mls of Copper Coast Irish Red Ale
• 1 rasher of bacon
• A little flour for dusting the pork
• Salt and pepper
• ½ a chicken stock cube
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil
• 2 tbsp butter

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 160c
  2. Put ½ the oil and ½ the butter into a casserole and place on the stove over a medium heat.
  3. Put the flour into a large bowl or tray, season and mix, turn the cheeks in the four and pat off the excess.
  4. Place in the bubbling fat, brown on both sides and remove,
  5. Tip out the used fat and give a wipe to the pan, add the rest of the oil and butter followed by the vegetables, brown these gently then add the garlic thyme and bacon, return the cheeks to the pot and pour the beer on top. If the beer doesn’t cover add a little water and crumble in the stock cube. Cover and place in the oven for 1hr 15 mins. The cheeks should be very soft, if they need a little more time don’t panic.
  6. When soft remove from the juice this you will strain through a sieve (be sure the give the vegetables a good squeeze).
  7. Reduce your juice until nice and syrupy, taste and season, add a pinch of sugar if a little bitter.
  8. Return the cheeks to the pot, check for seasoning, serve on top of the leek and potato salad.

Ingredients: For the salad

• 1 leek, the white halved and sliced as tin a you can, then washed
• 12 new potatoes, cooked, peeled, then diced into small cubes
• A little picked thyme
• 75g butter
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• ½ tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp water
• Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Melt the butter and add the leeks, sweat for 3 mins on a gentle heat until they start to soften then sprinkle over the water followed by the flour.
  2. Cook for a further 2 minutes and fold in the potatoes, mustard, salt, pepper and thyme. Serve immediately.

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