Pork Cheek Daube a Fall Weather Stew from Provence
I crave daube as soon as the cooler Fall weather starts. It corresponds to a single moment when my wife Lisa and I lived in a small, off-the-grid hippie cabin deep in the woods of Mendocino, California. Fall had started in earnest, and we decided to go for a long walk foraging for wild cèpes. I built a huge fire in our wood-burning stove and placed a daube of beef to slow cook on top. We opened a bottle of wine to decant and walked out into the cool, misty day heady with pine scents. After walking two miles, we had collected two full shopping bags of mushrooms and headed back home to enjoy our simple feast. The closer to the cabin we got, the hungrier we became. The wood smoke and rich beef scents hung in the mist surrounding the cabin, enticing us to come in and eat.
Give this pork cheek daube a try.
Daube of Pork Cheek
Equipment
Ingredients
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 4 pork cheeks joues de porc in France
- 1 tsp herbes de Provence
- 2 medium carrots sliced
- 1 sweet onion large dice
- 2 cloves garlic mashed
- 1 tomato chopped
- 1 orange zested and juiced
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 whole star anise
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 big pinch saffron
- 4 anchovy fillets chopped
Instructions
Before your guests arrive:
- Heat olive oil in a heavy sauté pan. Season pork cheeks with salt, freshly cracked black pepper, and herbes de Provence, then sear in oil till browned, for about five minutes.
- Remove cheeks and reserve.
- Add carrots, onion and garlic to the pan, and cook until softened, about five minutes.
- Add tomatoes, orange, cinnamon, star anise, white wine, stock, saffron and anchovy. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer, and then add the cheeks and cook slowly for two hours or until pork is fork tender. I usually make a huge batch in the fall and freeze in smaller portions.
When you are ready to eat:
- Reheat pork daube and spoon over buttered noodles, rice, or potatoes.
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