Elle Draper , Spanish Recipes, Spanish recipes - Meat/Poultry Spain 19
I love pork cheeks and this easy pork cheeks recipe is a breeze to make. If you have a slow cooker then it’s even better but I don’t, so ours was baked in the oven.
Many people are unsure about eating part of a pig that isn’t from a more frequently used part of the pig’s body. But once you’ve had pork cheeks, I can almost guarantee you’ll go back for more.
The secret to this recipe is to cook it as slowly as you possibly can to ensure that the meat is tender and melts in the mouth. This versionis adapted from a recipe by Nigel Slater – the king of comfort food. Enjoy!
Ingredients (serves two)
- 4pork cheeks
- 2carrots
- 1 medium onion
- 1 celery stick
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1 heaped tablespoon of flour
- small bunch ofthyme
- 2 bay leaves
- Half a bottle of red wine
- 1 dollopof fruit jam –optional
- Drizzle of olive oil
Method
- Grab yourself a deep roasting tin, one that is okay to place on your hob
- Drizzle in a little olive oil and brown the pork cheeks, turning occasionally
- Remove the pork cheeks from the pan and set aside
- Roughly chopthe carrots, onion, celery and garlic and toss them into the roasting tin
- Cook them gently until softened
- Return the cheeks to the pan and nestle them among the veggies
- Sprinkle the flour on top and pop the thyme and bay leaves down the middle
- Let it continue cooking through for a couple of minutes and then pour half a bottle of red on top
- You can drink the rest if you like
- Allow it to bring to the boil then take it off the heat
- Cover it loosely with foil, or use a lid if your roasting tin has one
- Pop it into a really low oven or slow cooker for about three to four hours
- Check the liquid after an hour and if it needs a bit of sweetening, add your dollop of jam of spoonful of sugar and stir very gently
- Do check every 30 to 45 minutes to ensure that the liquid hasn’t disappeared completely. You want an ooze to serve with it, almost a gravy.
- After about three hours, the pork cheeks should pull apart gently with a fork – then you know they’re done. it will take a bit longer in a slow cooker but is so worth the wait
- Serve with rice, a buttery herby mash or some crusty bread to mop up those delicious juices.
- Remember to remove the bay leaves and thyme bunch
Spain Buddy tips
- Throw in some button mushrooms at the same time as the wine
- Try substituting the wine for stout – although that’s not very Spanish
- Or use a litre of good quality stock plus a good glug of dark rum or brandy
- Use stock and a glass of sherry and it’s to die for! We had that with friends recently and it was Alan’s first taste of pork cheeks – he’s now hooked!
Elle Draper
Elle, along with Alan, is the owner of Spain Buddy and the busy web design business – Spain Web Design by Gandy-Draper.
Born a “Norverner”, she then spent most of her life “Dann Saff” before moving to Spain in 2006. Elle’s loves are Alan, the internet, dogs, good food, and dry white wine – although not necessarily in that order.
Elle, along with Alan, is the owner of Spain Buddy and the busy web design business - Spain Web Design by Gandy-Draper.Born a "Norverner", she then spent most of her life "Dann Saff" before moving to Spain in 2006. Elle's loves are Alan, the internet, dogs, good food, and dry white wine - although not necessarily in that order.
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19 Comments
Wandering Educators
March 27, 2015@ 12:05 amWOW. That looks AMAZING!!
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- Elle Draper
March 27, 2015@ 9:44 amYou must try it Jessie – it’s gorgeous!! x
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- Cat of Sunshine and Siestas
March 27, 2015@ 8:56 amOne of my favorites! My boyfriend adds copious amounts of tinto, a bit of brandy and cloves to his, and I chip in with garlic mashed potatoes. What was I eating all of the years before carrillada?!
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- Elle Draper
March 27, 2015@ 9:44 amOh my – garlic mash!!!!! Must try that with it next time. Good call Cat! xx
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- Mary @ Green Global Travel
March 28, 2015@ 4:25 pmThis recipe looks delicious. I’m not sure how to get a hold of pork cheeks, but it’s worth trying for this recipe. Thanks for sharing!
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- Elle Draper
March 28, 2015@ 5:32 pmHave a chat to your local butcher Mary. If they get the entire animal in for cutting, then they may be happy to sell you something that mau not normally be available to customers.
Good luck… and enjoy! xReply
- Lillie
March 29, 2015@ 5:21 amDROOL… these look amazing! We don’t usually cook meat in our house, but may have to make an exception.
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- Elle Draper
March 29, 2015@ 9:54 amThey are so juicy and tender Lillie. Enjoy! E x
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- Aleah | SolitaryWanderer.com
March 29, 2015@ 9:28 amLooks really delicious. It reminds me of our pork adobo here in the Philippines.
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- Elle Draper
March 29, 2015@ 9:54 amOoh I love pork adobo too Aleah! x
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- Jane Walters
March 29, 2015@ 4:44 pmHey Elle
I’m going to cook this for Ms Piddock and Co, when I visit her in May.
I guess that ‘drink the rest’ instruction will go without saying. ;-))
JxxReply
- Elle Draper
March 29, 2015@ 6:18 pmHa ha ha. Probably best get some extra in too xxx
Reply
- Alf
May 19, 2015@ 10:52 pmI remember having a version of this many years ago in the Old Town, Puerto del Carmen in Lanzarote. It was in a place called El Bodegon ( tablet won’t do accents) at the back of a restaurant called Puerto Viejo. The main restaurant overlooked the harbour plaza and catered mainly for tourists. The Bodegon was decorated to look like an old Spanish taproom ( Bodegon) with old barrels and dusty wine bottles ( good excuse for not being too fussy about dusting ). The Bodegons’ customers were mainly Spanish, and in the late evening mostly local Spanish business owners. Most of the staff didn’t speak much, or indeed, any English, which made it even more enjoyable using my then very lamentable Spanish ( as opposed to my now not so very lamentable Spanish) when trying to order some of the tapas dishes on display. It usually involved a bit of Spanglish pantomime, much to the amusem*nt of some of the Spanish clientele. Some of the dishes were reasonably obvious as to their contents, others not so much, carrilladas ( pork cheeks ) was one of the latter. The version they served there looked more like large albondigas ( meatballs ) with a very thick boozy sauce, indeed, one of the waiters insisted they were very small bulls balls! It still didn’t put us off, they were absolutely gorgeous. One other thing always amused me about that place ( doesn’t exist any more unfortunately ), one of the Spanish managers spoke very good English but with a very pronounced northern accent. Seemingly, his wife came from Bolton and used to be his English teacher, however, his mother in law was the origin of many Les Dawson jokes, alledgedly!
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- Elle Draper
May 21, 2015@ 12:19 amI enjoyed reading that. I know the place you mean too! x
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- Sandy Fry
June 12, 2015@ 2:32 pmWaht are pigs cheeks called in Spanish please
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- Elle Draper
June 19, 2015@ 2:35 pmSorry for the delay in replying, Sandy. They are “carriladas” in Spanish. Carriladas de cerdo for pork… and carriladas de ternera for beef (which are much bigger and very rich and juicy). Elle x
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- Lourdes
January 17, 2016@ 11:39 amHi I cooked the cheeks for the first time about a month ago and they were delicious. Surely I will do them again. Try them you won’t be disappointed.
Reply
- Elle Draper
January 17, 2016@ 1:48 pmOoh – you have me craving it again! E x
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- Jackie
June 21, 2016@ 12:40 amMmmmm. I love pigs cheeks. Might have to try this one. x
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Wandering Educators 
Cat of Sunshine and Siestas 
Mary @ Green Global Travel 
Lillie 
Aleah | SolitaryWanderer.com 
Jane Walters 
Alf 
Sandy Fry 
Lourdes 
Jackie 