Pork Cheeks braised in Absinthe

New favourite. Still learning how to make this properly.

Ingredients:

1. 4 trimmed pig’s cheeks;
2. 50 ml Absinthe;
3. 30 ml Good quality white wine vinegar;
4. 5 tbsp olive oil;
5. 1 leek, finely sliced;
6. 2 carrots cubed;
7. 2-3 sticks celery, chopped;
8. 1 onion, chopped;
9. 2 cloves garlic, chopped;
10. 1 bay leaf;
11. 2 sprigs thyme;
12. 1 tbsp tomato purée;
13. 2 tbsp honey
14. 750ml chicken stock
15. 125ml white wine;
16. Freshly ground salt and pepper

Preparation:

• Marinate the meat in 2 tbsp olive oil, the Absinthe, vinegar and salt and pepper for at least 4 hours before cooking. The Absinthe gives a very distinct taste that may not be to everyone’s liking and could be replaced with e.g. vermouth or some other liquor;
• Preheat the oven to 170C;
• Heat the oil in a casserole with a tight-fitting lid. Add the leek, celery, carrot, onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, then add the bay leaf, thyme, and tomato purée. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add the honey and cook for a further 5 minutes to caramelise;
• Add pig’s cheeks, stir well and cook for 3-4 minutes to coat and colour. Add the stock and wine. Bring to the boil, season, then cover and transfer to the preheated oven. Cook for 2 ½ - 3 hours;Remove from the oven, lift the cheeks from the stock and reserve. Strain the stock and place in a medium-sized saucepan. Bring to the boil and allow the mixture to reduce in volume by half;
• For an extra savoury sauce wiz the strained vegetables (less herbs) in a food processor until smooth and add back to sauce until desired consistency is achieved;

Serve with creamy mash or parsnip puree and your selection of vegetables. Last weekend this was the filling for the best pasta parcels I’ve ever had.

Stewed Pork Shoulder

This is a great favourite of mine that I’ve been making for many years but I’ve long since forgotten where it came from. It may have been experimentation but I rather suspect it came from reading an old Raymond Olivier cookbook as there was I period when I cocked almost exclusively from his magnum opus. That was also when I really learned to cook meat. Unfortunately the only copy of that cookbook I’ve ever had access to is my sister’s. A few years ago I search high and low in Parisian bookstores for a copy but none was to be found.

The basic idea behind this recipe is a one pot meal whereby all the ingredients slowly simmer together until they have achieved a sort of balanced taste whereby everything taste similarly but has very different texture. You will also get a sauce that is the most extraordinary concentrations of taste.

Ingredients (for four people):

1. 1 ½ Kg boned pork shoulder;
2. 1 Kg pork bones preferable from the shoulder but any decent butcher will have other bones to share. It is important that the bones not be too big otherwise they won’t fit in your roasting pot;
3. 4 – 8 whole turnips clean, cut of the ends otherwise leave whole;
4. 3 large carrots pealed and cut into 4 cm pieces;
5. a bunch each rosemary & thyme;
6. 1 bouquet garnie;
7. A couple of bay leaves;
8. 6 large cloves roughly sliced garlic;
9. 1 large red onion sliced into thick disks;
10. 1 litre good quality chicken or vegetable stock;
11. 125 ml (normal wine glass) red wine vinegar, or a mix of red wine and some other vinegar. The other night I used vinegar made from a mixture of red berries that worked extremely well. Red wine also works but you will need a larger quantity to get the right amount of acidity. Don’t use balsamic as it completely changes the nature of the sauce;
12. 30 ml dark soy sauce;
13. Olive oil and a tablespoon of butter;
14. Salt and black pepper to taste.

Make about 12 deep incisions (at least half way through) into the pork shoulder and stuff with about half the sliced garlic and as much rosemary and thyme as will fit in there. In a very hot stewing pot brown the pork shoulder on all sides remove from the pot.

Lower the heat to medium and add about a tablespoon of olive oil, the onion and garlic and fry until the onion is soft. Add in the vegetables and butter fry until slightly caramelized. This step is not really all that important but it does make the veggies a little bit more interesting.

Add back the shoulder with the fat and skin facing upwards. Arrange the bones around the shoulder add in the bay leaves and bouquet garnie before pouring over the vinegar and boiling off the alcohol. Add in the stock, soy and season to taste.

Turn up the heat and when boiling transfer to a 160 degrees oven (set at under over). Leave in there for 4 hours. You can shorten the cooking time by raising the temperature but as the sauce will evaporate faster you will need more liquid.

Not harmed by adding olives particularly large black ones.

Serve with mashed potatoes.

Verre Dubai

Hilton Hotel Dubai Creek,
(17 June 2007)

This is Gordon Ramsay’s effort in Dubai. I vent there with business partners for Sunday dinner. I found the setting in a glass box on the mezz floor of the Hilton Dubai Creek a bit cold but at least the food and service where pure Ramsay.

I had:

• Yellow fin tuna two ways – marinated then seared and carpaccio with pickled white radish, soy dressing: no complaint here. While this was not exactly an inspired dish it was very good and since I knew the main course would be heavy a liked the lightness of touch that went into preparing it.
• Slow cooked pork belly, creamed Puy lentils, black pudding and pan-fried foie gras with braising jus: I have no idea what the foie gras was doing there other than justify the price but the rest was magnificent. It really is difficult to mess up slow cooked pork belly but this one was particularly good and the puy lentils and black pudding worked a treat.

Basically, another great Ramsay restaurant.

Lifrakaefa (Liverpostej)

This liver pate is very much part of my family's festive menu and featured this year at my brother Gummi's house on the 27th. I guess it is another Danish tradition imported by my parents. We serve it as a starter but clearly it is quite sufficient as a main. The tradition is to serve various local breads with the pate. These include flatkokur a sort of pancake made from ... , rugbraud a very moist black bread made from ..., and laufabraud a traditional Christmas concoction of deep fried white dough. Regular toast is also very good with the pate.

Ingredients:

1. 1 kg minced pork liver
2. 500 pork fat
3. 2 onions
4. 3 eggs
5. 2 tbls butter
6. 2 tbls flour
7. 100 ml milk
8. 2 tsp allrahanda (this is a herb/spice mixture that contains cinnamon, various peppers and some other unidentified herbs. I suspect this is something that became popular when spices where expensive and hard to get and I plan on replacing it)
9. 2 tbs cloves (that's what the recipe calls for but I only use about a quarter that quantity)
10. Salt and pepper
11. Bacon
12. Button Mushrooms

Make a roux with the butter, flour and milk. In a mixer work in the other ingredients, other than bacon and mushrooms, beginning with the egg and ending with the fat and meat. Bake in a Bain Marie for around 1 hour at 200 degrees centigrade. Just before serving fry up the bacon and mushrooms and serve warm with the pate.

Slow Cooked Pork

(Made 13 November 2006)

1. One kilo pork loin roast w/bone in keep the fat on but if the skin is still on take that off;
2. Olive oil;
3. 45 gr softened butter;
4. 2 large shallots roughly cut up (or onions);
5. 6 cloves garlic;
6. 1 tsp Rock salt;
7. Ten or so black pepper corns;
8. 2 tsp fresh sprigs thyme;
9. 2 tsp fresh sage (Actually you can replace the herbs with any other herbs that you like);
10. 2 carrots finely chopped;
11. 2 sticks celery cut into 2 cm pits;
12. 350 ml chicken stock;
13. 350 ml white vine;
14. 150 gr of new potatoes per person;
15. 200 gram tin of Cannelloni beans.

In a mortar create a paste out of ingredients 2 – 9 leaving aside about 15 grams of butter, two cloves garlic and one shallot. You start with the pepper and salt and mash those until fine, then add the herbs and mash until fine. Then add the garlic and shallot and mash until you have a paste into which you work the softened butter and olive oil. Basically, you are looking for a paste that is easy to spread but not runny and the quantity of olive oil needed will be thus determined.

Spread the paste over the no-bone parts of the pork until you have an even layer covering the meat. Leave in a cool place for a couple of hours for the meat to marinade. If you really like your garlic you could make incisions into the meaty parts and push bits of garlic into the meat before spreading the paste. The added benefit of this is that there will be more surface for the marinade to cover.

In a heavy braising pot heat the remaining butter and some olive oil and when hot add the carrot, celery, remaining shallot and garlic. Sweat the vegetables without coloring them. When done add the meat bone-side down (push the vegetables away so that the meat is resting on the pot), poor the vine and stock around (not over) the meat, close the pot and put in a preheated oven at the lowest level. The oven should be at 140 Celsius for four hours (falling of the bone) or 180 Celsius for two hours (still firm but juicy). Use the convection function if you have it otherwise over-under. Traditionally, recipes call for you to braise the meat every 30 minutes or so but I find that it make very little difference with a closed pot.

For the last 30 minutes uncover the meat (and leave uncovered) and add the potatoes to the broth. If these are truly new potatoes you do not need to peal them and the skin will take on a very appealing color as one side roasts and the other absorbs the liquids.

Take pork and potatoes out of oven, cover and set aside for 15 minutes. Meanwhile strain the liquid and put into a hot gravy pot. Combine with the Cannelloni beans and bring to a boil. The beans when heated will release starch that will thicken the sauce. If the sauce is not thick enough crush a few of the beans and mix.

Serve with bean sauce spooned over the meat. I like to put the carrots and celery (or what remains of them) under the meat before spooning over the sauce but most recipes would tell you to throw them away. I had an excellent Australian pinot noir with the meat but any medium bodied read or full bodied white will do.

I love this method of preparing the potatoes but I’ve served this dish with pommes gratine which is just as good. You can also add some mushrooms to the broth and a vegetable purée will not do any harm although the dish will be quite busy.