Crispy sous vide pig cheeks

This is an absolute instant favourite for anyone who tries these delicious little porky wonders!

So this is a recipe maybe not all will be able to try out at home, but the principles are still the same whether you sous vide them or slow cook them. The advantage of sous vide is that they can be cooked at such a precise temperature that the meat never dries out or becomes ‘flaky’ like traditional slow cooked meat. If you are going to try this with an oven don’t be too disheartened, they will still be delicious, just be careful to check your oven temperature with an oven thermometer and change the recipe temperature to 80°c and the time to somewhere around 6h or until the meat feels like it will give under finger pressure. You want all the collagen to be cooked out but not to dry out the meat. You can cook them in as much jus or other liquid as you like but they will still dry out if they are heated too high for too long. Ever had boeuf bourguinon, the meat falls apart but actually it is very dry if you just eat the meat (If you hold your nose and eat traditional slow cooked meat it’s not a pleasant experience).

Right here for the recipe:

For the mayonnaise find a good recipe to make from scratch (I never use a recipe) or use a good quality bought one and add the ingredients:

• Add sage (fresh is best) and chopped scallions to oil and heat gently till infused
• When you have your basic mayonnaise add the infused oil, bit and all to the mayo and whisk vigorously to incorporate this will make it thicken
• Add a little water to thin to desired consistence, whisking it again
• Finish with whole grain mustard if desired.

For the cheeks:

• Clean the cheeks of large pieces of sinew, smaller bits will dissolve during cooking or be easily removed when cooked
• Place into a sous vide bag along with a small pinch of maldon sea salt (or good sea salt, table salt will not do!). It’s also worth noting that while putting herbs and such into a sous vide bag can be very effective with relatively quick cooking times, during the long cooking process they can change and become unpleasant)
• Cook at 62° for around 48hrs depending on the cheek size (give one a little squeeze with your fingers and if it feels like it will break under moderate pressure then they are done, if not cook longer)
• Remove from water bath and place sous vide bags into cold water. (here the water out the tap is around 3°c so no ice is necessary)
• When cool open bags and remove the jellied stock (keep this, this is great for anything you would use stock for)
• Remove any noticeable sinew
• Slice into goujons and refrigerate
• Coat in seasoned flour them into beaten egg with a dash of cold water
• Then into panko breadcrumbs or normal breadcrumbs
• Into egg again them once more in the panko
• Now they are ready to deep fry at around 180°c till golden and crispy (fry in batches so as not to cool the oil down)

Et voila! Drain and serve with salad and the sage & onion mayo, great posh pub food!