Carrilleras estofadas al PX | Braised pork cheeks in PX Sherry sauce
Pork cheeks are a sublime cut (whether pork or beef, you choose), very tender when properly cooked, no bones, all meat. It benefits from the long cooking in the rich and sweet PX sherry. This dish is best enjoyed with a glass of the singular Redbreast PX Edition whiskey, a pair made in Spanish heaven.
INGREDIENTS
1kg of pork cheeks (or beef)
2 tbsp of flour (any kind)
1 glass (175ml) of Pedro Ximénez sweet Sherry wine
100ml of olive oil
3 carrots
1 medium onion
1 stalk of celery
6 cloves of garlic
3 tomatoes
Spices: ¼ of a cinnamon stick, 1 clove, 5 black peppercorns
Herbs: 6 sprigs of thyme, 2 bay leaves
1 litre of beef stock, can be from stock cubes
1 tea spoons of salt
Season with salt and coat the cheeks in the flour. Panfry them on both sides in a wide bottom pot over high heat with the olive oil. 3-4 minutes on each side and set aside.
In the same pot and oil panfry the roughly chopped onion, peeled garlic, carrot and celery until dark golden. Add the herbs and spices and the finely chopped tomatoes and reduce down the juices of the tomato for around 5 minutes.
Put the seared cheeks back into the pan and flambé with the PX Sherry. Add the remaining salt and when the wine had reduce by 2/3’s add the beef stock and let it all hard boil for 30 minutes when we will bring the heat down to low and we will let them simmer gently at least for the next 2 hours. Sometimes even 3 hours, all depends on the type of meat and size. You can as well place the oven-proof casserole in the oven and slow cook it with the lid on or a parchment cartouche at 150 degree for the same amount of time. Add the chocolate into the pot a stir it in so it dilutes and it is ready to enjoy
SUGGESTIONS: For a finer end result, you can set the pork cheeks aside and strain the sauce. Reduce it down for 10 minutes so you achieve a clean and thin demi-glace sauce. When I feel lazy of preparing any other garnish to go with it I just chuck in some cleaned new potatoes inside for the last hour of cooking and they will taste great with the cheeks and rich sauce.
