Browsing through the blogosphere for inspiration yesterday, I came across Jenny’s Lau’s Meat In A Box – one woman’s challenge to eat box-delivered meat every month. As the name suggests!
One of the recipes on this excellent blog was for pulled pork cheeks, which caught my attention because I’ve had some leftover cooked cheeks lurking in my freezer from a previous adventure in the summer.
This post focuses on the pulling stage, but you can check out the slow-cooked stage here (in a nutshell: floured, browned, seasoned, cooked in slow cooker on LOW for 6-8 hours until nearly falling apart).
Serves 2-4
For the pork
4 cooked pig’s cheeks
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1-2 dried small red chillies, crushed
1/2 tsp sugar
Burger buns or brioche rolls
For the potato salad
2 large potatoes (I used Maris Piper)
2 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp Greek natural yoghurt
1 tsp Dijon mustard
3 tbsp finely chopped chives
1. Make the potato salad first by peeling the potatoes and dicing into 2cm chunks. Boil until tender in a large saucepan of water, approx. 8 mins. Drain and plunge into cold water to stop the cooking process.
2. In a bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients together, then mix in the cooked potatoes. Put in fridge until needed.
3. For the pork, put the cheeks in a shallow dish. Mix the ingredients for the sauce together, then brush half over the cheeks. Put in a low oven for 20-25 mins, until the cheeks have reheated.
4. Remove from the oven and transfer to a chopping board. Using two forks, shred the pork cheeks into strands.
5. Return the shredded pork to the shallow dish and drizzle over the rest of the sauce.
6. Pile onto lightly grilled burger buns and serve with the potato salad and mixed green leaves.
