Slow Cooked Pork Cheeks in Apple Cider

Slowly cooking meat in apple cider is a great idea. Meat becomes extremely soft and the sauce is a delight.

This is a cooking method that is quite similar to very conventional French dishes such as beef or poultry, slowly cooked in red or white wine. Kind of a stew. You might have heard of Boeuf Bourguignon from Burgundy or Daube Provençale from South France.

So why not cooking in apple cider? I’ve prepared this following the great advices of my neighborhood butcher. And I don’t regret it. I even duplicate this with other meats.

Noix de joue de porc au cidre

Slow Cooked Pork Cheeks in Apple Cider

Slowly cooking meat in apple cider is a great idea. Meat becomes extremely soft and the sauce is a delight. This is a cooking method that is quite similar to very conventional French dishes such as beef or poultry, slowly cooked in red or white wine. Kind of a stew. You might have heard of Boeuf Bourguignon from Burgundy or Daube Provençale from South France.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Main dish
Cuisine French
Servings 6 shares

Ingredients
  

  • 12 walnut-size balls pork cheek about 1,2 kg
  • 50 to 75 cl apple cider
  • 8 carrots
  • 4 leeks
  • 1 onion
  • 1 shallot
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 bouquet garni
  • salt
  • pepper
  • oil

Instructions
 

  • Start by preparing vegetables.
  • Prepare the aromatic garnish: peel and cut into small cubes 2 carrots, onion, shallot. Mince garlic.
  • Prepare the remaining vegetables. Wash and peel carrots, leave them whole or cut into 2. Wash leeks, cut sections of the same size as carrots.
  • Heat oil in a pan. Fry meat a few minutes on each side, remove it. Pour the aromatic garnish, add salt and pepper, cook for up to 5 minutes over medium heat, then deglaze with a glass of cider. Scrape all sides of the pot to collect the juices.
  • Add meat, the bouquet garni, carrots and leeks. Pour in the remaining cider covering up (depending on the size of your pot you may need 50 to 75 cl. Let it simmer over low heat for 1 hour. You may cover with a lid.
  • Serve meat and carrots and leeks, with the sauce aside.
  • Normally, with this kind of cooking method, just the way we are supposed to do with boeuf bourguignon, we should remove the aromatic garnish from the sauce. Personally, I like these little pieces of carrot and onion overcooked. They are so tasty.

Notes

The main steps: Briefly fry the meat, then the aromatic garnish. Put all the ingredients in the pan with cider and let it simmer for 1 hour.
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Bon appétit !

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