Braised pork cheeks Lorraine style

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 1 ½ kg pork cheeks, cleaned, raw
• 2 carrots
• 1 bulb(s) garlic, Chinese
• 1 parsley root(s)
• 150 g celery
• 150 g shallot(s)
• 6 grains of allspice
• 6 juniper berries
• 1 tsp sugar
• 30 g tomato paste
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 tbsp flour
• 70 g clarified butter
• 700 ml vegetable stock
• 700 ml red wine, good
• 2 small gingerbread, chocolate

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 55 minutes

I cut two carrots, celery, and a parsley root into 1/2-cm cubes and lightly browned them in clarified butter with three finely chopped shallots. I added a teaspoon of sugar and a tablespoon of tomato paste. I sautéed everything for a bit and then deglazed it with half a liter of vegetable stock. I then topped it up with a bottle of red wine. I lightly pressed about five or six juniper berries and allspice berries and added them to the simmering vegetable red wine stock. I also added two bay leaves and a crushed garlic clove. I coated the pork cheeks in flour and gradually seared them on both sides in clarified butter, seasoning them with salt and black pepper. The seared pieces were drained and added to the casserole with the red wine sauce. The meat, covered with the sauce, was braised over low heat for just over an hour. I then removed the cooked pork cheeks from the sauce, covered them, and kept warm. I pressed the contents of the saucepan through a fine sieve. The red wine sauce was already quite thick. I chopped two small chocolate gingerbread cookies and dissolved them in the sauce, added a knob of cold butter, and seasoned with salt and pepper. Almost any kind of vegetable goes well with this, whether asparagus or red cabbage. A simple salad works too. You can serve it with spaetzle, boiled potatoes, or pasta, as desired. And a glass of red wine is a must.