Bochechas de Porco

Pork and sear

• 1 kg pork cheeks, trimmed, patted dry
• 30 g flour, to dust lightly
• 40 ml olive oil, to sear
• 0 to taste salt and pepper

Braise

• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 4 garlic
• 400 ml red wine
• 200 ml port
• 300 ml stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 0 a few sprigs thyme

Sear and build the base

1. 1

   Pat 1 kg cheeks dry, season with salt and pepper, and dust lightly with 30 g flour. SEAR them hard in 40 ml olive oil in a heavy pot until deeply browned — the fond you build here is most of the sauce's flavour, so don't rush this to pale. Set aside.

   12mhigh

   Sear in batches; a crowded pot steams and you lose the fond.

   Low-and-Slow Braising (Collagen → Gelatine)
2. 2

   Soften 2 chopped onions, 1 chopped carrot and 4 garlic cloves in the same pot for 8 min, scraping up the browned bits. Deglaze with 400 ml red wine and 200 ml port, reduce by a third to drive off the raw alcohol, then return the cheeks with 300 ml stock, 2 bay leaves and thyme — the liquid should come most of the way up the meat, not submerge it.

   15m

   Don't submerge — most of the way up the meat, or you're boiling and the sauce never concentrates.

   Refogado — the Portuguese Aromatic Base

Braise and glaze

1. 3

   Cover and braise gently — 150–160 °C in the oven gives more even heat than the hob — for 2½–3 h, turning and basting. Take it PAST the point where the meat first seems cooked: pork cheek goes tough first, then tender, and only a long hold converts the collagen. It's ready when a fork twists in with zero resistance and the cheek wobbles.

   2h 45m150–160 °Cheavy lidded pot or oven

   Pull at apparent doneness (~75 °C) and it's tough — the long hold is what converts the collagen to gelatine.

   Low-and-Slow Braising (Collagen → Gelatine)
2. 4

   Lift the meat out, reduce the sauce until it naps a spoon (the gelatine does the thickening — no cornflour needed), check the seasoning, and return the cheeks to glaze. Serve with mash or batatas a murro.

   10m