Pork cheeks

[ScottyBoy]

Yummm, I still have dreams of the sous vide Iberico pork cheek I had at Mugaritz...

[Neil Smith]

I grabbed some from a local Morrisons the other week. 60⁰C for 60 hours, and they we great. I hadn't stumbled across the recipe linked upthread, so I just did them with some sage and pepper, with a red-wine-and-gravy-granules sauce made with a reduction of the juices (classy, I know).

[Tempest63]

Apologies for my late arrival to this topic. 
A few years ago, 3 maybe 4 there seemed to be a glut of pork cheeks available in my little corner of Essex. One of our local butcher’s stocked them, the butcher in Chelmsford market had them in abundance…then they were gone. The butcher in Chelmsford only had them frozen, our local fellow had to order them in with the consequential rise in price.

When readily available they became a mainstay of our “Curryfest” a bimonthly event where I would indulge myself cooking Indian for a group of friends or family.

Meera Sodahs Pig Cheek Vindaloo became a firm favourite as did Vivek Singhs Coorg Pandhi pork stir fry, where I replaced the pork belly with cheeks.

https://meerasodha.com/recipes/pig-cheek-vindaloo/
https://www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/coorg-pandhi-pork-stir-fry/

 

Whatever happened to the pig cheeks?

Edited July 4 by Tempest63 (log)

[Tempest63]

My caterers at work have ordered me 2kg of pork cheeks that will arrive tomorrow. 
Vindaloo this weekend.

[Tempest63]

My order of 2 kilograms of pork cheeks arrived yesterday from our caterers. Only it turned out to be five kilos. Five one kilo bags.

 

 

I opened one bag ready to start marinating them and it contained 12 cheeks. The other 4 are now in the freezer. Looks like dinner tomorrow will be vindaloo. Problem is, with such a glut, do I go with a tried and tested recipe (Meera Sodha https://meerasodha.com/recipes/pig-cheek-vindaloo/ ), or experiment with some of the other recipes I found on the net that look so good (Gymkhana https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jul/10/gymkhana-suckling-pig-vindaloo-recipe )?

 

 

The caterers looked at the bill from their butcher and found the cheeks hadn’t been charged, so they gave them to me free. Probably saved me about £35 to 40.

Edited July 12 by Tempest63 (log)

[Duvel]

2 hours ago, Tempest63 said:

Problem is, with such a glut, do I go with a tried and tested recipe (Meera Sodha https://meerasodha.com/recipes/pig-cheek-vindaloo/ ), or experiment with some of the other recipes I found on the net that look so good (Gymkhana https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/jul/10/gymkhana-suckling-pig-vindaloo-recipe )?

As you have a lot, go with the new recipe and give it a try …

[rotuts]

you don't have to make am Indian dish either .

 

Sous Vide some , making sure you get tender , but try rare , 130 F

 

then torch for surface mallard   and slice thin .    for a dandwich

 

thicker for a ' steak '

 

quite the Bonanza     congratulations.

[Tempest63]

23 hours ago, Duvel said:

As you have a lot, go with the new recipe and give it a try …

I veered away from the vindaloo as I have some goat that is going into a curry over this weekend and decided not to have two Indian dishes.

I considered a pork goulash but opted instead for this recipe.

https://whereismyspoon.co/pork-cheeks/

It has some sweet paprika in it so there are some elements of a goulash. As I write I have just covered the pan for a 2 hour simmer. Whilst it is bubbling away I’ll walk the dogs.

Edited July 13 by Tempest63 (log)

[Kerala]

No pork cheeks at Morrison's in recent times. I asked the butcher this week and he said there's no interest. But they had ox cheek... Funny how these cycles go.

[Tempest63]

5 hours ago, Tempest63 said:

I veered away from the vindaloo as I have some goat that is going into a curry over this weekend and decided not to have two Indian dishes.

I considered a pork goulash but opted instead for this recipe.

https://whereismyspoon.co/pork-cheeks/

It has some sweet paprika in it so there are some elements of a goulash. As I write I have just covered the pan for a 2 hour simmer. Whilst it is bubbling away I’ll walk the dogs.

 
 

The final product. 
Still a little more sauce than I would usually aim for but this will be divided into two portions and will give us two meals. I will reheat in a saucepan and reduce to the desired consistency at that point