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Ossobuco-Style Braised Pork Cheeks Recipe

Dirt cheap pork cheeks become heavenly good eats in this playful adaption of the Milanese classic ossobuco.
Course Main
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours 30 minutes
Total Time 4 hours
Servings 6
Author Johan Johansen

Ingredients

  • 1 kilo pork cheeks trimmed of excess fat and silverskin
  • 2 large onions diced
  • 2 large carrots diced
  • 2 stalks celery diced
  • 1 leek white part, finely chopped
  • 1 head of garlic bottom cut off but husk left on
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • 1 can diced tomatoes about 400 grams
  • 400 ml chicken stock
  • 100 ml cream
  • 1 glass crisp white wine
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 star anise pod
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon chicken fat or butter
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Season pork cheeks liberally with salt and pepper
  2. Put a cast iron pot over medium heat and add olive oil or chicken fat/butter.
  3. Once fat is heated, brown the pork cheeks thoroughly on each side in batches as to avoid crowding the pot.
  4. Set the browned pork cheeks aside and add the onions, carrots, celery to the pot and sauté for a few minutes until fragrant. Add the tomato paste and the leeks and sauté for another minute.
  5. Put the pork cheeks back in the pot, then add half of the white wine, allow to cook for a few minutes until wine has reduced down a bit.
  6. Add in the diced tomatoes, chicken stock, cream, rest of the wine, Worcestershire sauce, bay leaves and star anise and the entire head of garlic.
  7. Turn heat to medium high and let the pot come to a simmer.
  8. Back heat down to medium low, put a lid on the pot and leave to simmer slowly for two hours.
  9. When the two hours are up, remove the lid, raise the heat to medium and let the sauce reduce for about another hour or until thickened.
  10. While the sauce reduces, you can skim off some of the fat, that floats to the surface… Or not, choice is yours.
  11. After a total cooking time of about three hours, carefully fish out the star anise, bay leaves and head of garlic.
  12. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. If everything seems a little too rich, you can add a splash of sherry vinegar to cut through the rich, fatty flavors.
  13. Serve with mashed potatoes, root vegetable mash, pasta or rice on a cold winter day.

Recipe Notes

The more finely diced the vegetables are, the smoother the final consistency of the dish. If you want the dish to have some chunks and chew left, dice your vegetables fairly large.