Braised Pig’s Cheeks with Mashed Potatoes, Red Cabbage and Pear

A green plate with cooked red meat and gravy on one side and red cabbage on the other.

Ingredients

For the pig’s cheeks

  • 1kg pig’s cheeks.
  • 100g flour, for dusting the pork, optional.
  • 1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped.
  • 1 stick of celery, peeled and roughly chopped.
  • 1 medium onion, chopped.
  • 2 sprigs of thyme.
  • 2 cloves of garlic, chopped.
  • 50g tomato purée.
  • 2 litres of beef stock, or brown stock if you prefer.
  • Cooking oil.
  • Salt and pepper, to taste.

For the red cabbage

  • 1/2 red cabbage, shredded.
  • 2 banana shallots, chopped.
  • 50g sultanas.
  • 30ml red wine vinegar.
  • 50g brown sugar.
  • 1/2 tsp allspice.
  • Pinch of ground ginger.
  • 1 Williams pear, chopped.

 

Method

  1. The first task is to get the pig’s cheeks cooking. I always cook them in a pressure cooker, but if you don’t have one you will need to preheat your oven to 130°C.
  2. Put your pot onto the stove, add a little oil, roll your pig’s cheeks in a little flour and pop them into the hot pot. 
  3. Do this one at a time until the bottom of the pot is covered. You might need to do this in a couple of batches. It is vital at this stage that you create a lot of colour on the pork - this colour will transfer itself into a big flavour.
  4. Once all the pork is browned add the chopped onion, celery, carrot, thyme and garlic. 
  5. Give it a good mix, then once the vegetables have started to soften add the tomato purée and the stock and bring to the boil. You might have to add a little water depending on the size of your pressure cooker. 
  6. Pop on the lid and bring up to pressure. Once you have established pressure turn the heat down to as low as it will go and cook for 45 minutes. If you haven’t got a pressure cooker you can pop the mix into a deep tray, cover with tinfoil and braise in the oven for about 2.5 hours. 
  7. Next, place the shredded red cabbage, spices, chopped shallots vinegar and sugar into a large pot. Slowly cook with the lid on until the cabbage is tender. 
  8. Next, add the sultanas and the chopped pear and cook for another 10 minutes. 
  9. Once the pork is ready pass the cooking liquid into a pot and bring to the boil on the stove. Reduce until you have a tasty sauce. 
  10. Once your sauce is ready pop the cheeks back in. 
  11. When the cheeks are hot, serve with the mashed potato and the red cabbage.