Kitchen adventures: Slow cooked pork cheeks

Now that it’s getting cooler in Chicago, I get more excited about the prospect of spending time in the kitchen cooking with football or music playing in the background. Hibernation is on the horizon so that’s the perfect time to get my pans dirty (note, not PANTS.)

And after seeing Naomi’s (aka Gastrognome) recent post about a pork cheek recipe she made (called Holy Sh*t Pork Cheeks), I knew I had to make it. Slow cooker and pork? BRING IT ON PIGGIES.

This is literally all you need:

• Pork cheeks
• Turkey stock/broth
• Canned chipotle peppers
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil

Let this all sit in the slow cooker for 8-9 hours on low and you’re all set. Seriously, I worried that this wouldn’t turn out, I mean, cooking for that long when the meat isn’t very big or thick? This must be wrong but it wasn’t!

Verdict: A little spicy (like me) but damn tender and tasty. I can see why Naomi had to take a photo of this right away because it goes fast. I didn’t take a photo right away and, well, ate the entire thing before I realized it.

So here is the photo from Naomi’s blog, which I got permission to post (credit to Gastrognome) so you can see some of the deliciousness.

Image and full post found here

Really, this meat was so tender it just fell apart on your fork or in your mouth. The chipotle peppers made it a little too spicy for me at times (or inconsistently spicy) but I would work with this in the future. Plus, with a little truffle salt, it is just SO delicious.

It was a little bit of a pilgrimage around Chicago to get the pork cheese and turkey stock/peppers, but next time I’ll plan a little better and have everything ahead of time. Oh yes, I will be making this again.

What are you cooking this fall?