Daube of Pork Cheeks
Daube of Pork Cheeks, photo by Francois de Melogue
This Provençal pork stew is ideal for chilly days when you crave a comforting meal. Traditionally, daubes were prepared in the fading embers of a wood fire using a distinctively shaped pot known as a daubière. The extended cooking time and the pot’s rounded form facilitate a convection process, where heat rising from the bottom transforms into steam, meets the cooler top, and condenses back down onto the simmering meat. This cycle helps the collagen in the braising meats convert to gelatin, giving the final dish a smooth and silky texture.
Daube of Pork Cheeks
incredibly tender pork cheeks simmered with vegetables in a classic Provencal stew
PREP: 10 minutes + 2 days marinating | COOK: 3.5 hours | SERVES: 4
2 pounds of pork cheeks (about 12 cheeks)
8 cloves of garlic crushed
2 carrots peeled and diced
1 large sweet onion peeled and diced
1 rib of celery diced
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs of thyme
5 juniper berries, crushed
1 dried orange peel (if you don’t have zest one orange)
1 bottle of Provencal red wine (Bandol, etc)
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon of butter
1 tablespoon flour
4 ounces Marc de Provence or brandy
salt and pepper to taste
In a large nonreactive bowl, combine the pork, garlic, carrots, onion, celery, herbs, juniper, orange, and wine. Cover and marinate for 2 days in the refrigerator.
Place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl and strain into the bowl, reserving the liquid, vegetables, and herbs. With paper towels, pat the cheeks dry.
In a large skillet or Dutch oven over high heat, heat the oil and butter until smoking hot. Add the pork and cook, turning frequently, until browned on all sides, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer the meat to a plate. Add the vegetables and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour and cook for a minute. Deglaze with the Marc and add the reserved marinade and herbs to the pot. Scrape all the bits of meat stuck to the pan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Adjust seasoning to your tastes.
Pour into a daubiere or a clean Dutch oven with the pork. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer until the meat is insanely tender, about 3 hours. Remove the orange peel before serving.
I like to serve daubes with something starchy and comforting. I serve with everything from hand-cranked pasta to mashed potatoes.
TIP:
Provence is a poor region and people never throw anything away that could be used. Whenever you eat oranges, cut the skins off, hang them somewhere out of the sun, and dry them out completely. The orange flavor will be more pronounced and give your stews a punch of sunshine.
NOTES:
Pork cheeks and pork jowls are not quite the same thing. Cheeks are the little medallion of meat and jowls include a lot of the fat around it. Pork cheeks are available from good butchers and specialty shops online.
Many cooks claim it is next to impossible to make a proper daube without a daubiere. The unique shape Though some, including me, will begrudgingly admit it is possible, the results will be slightly less succulent. If stew-making becomes a passion in your life, there is still one potter left in France making authentic daubieres.
My friend Marie Helene who owns Remember Provence sells real daubieres made from clay. You can buy yours from her — she ships worldwide. For a real daubiere click here.
Daube Tips
Never eat a daube the same day it is made. Let the stew mature and have its flavors marry together to blossom into the work of art that humble peasant cooking is. Serve it with boiled or mashed potatoes, spätzle, potato gratin, or even buttered noodles.
Cooking is meant to be a joyous thing. It is not as exacting as everyone these days seems to make it out to be. Have fun, and do what you like. If you don’t have juniper, bacon, anchovies, or olives don’t worry — make it anyway. Cooking is free-form poetry at its very best.
When using a clay daubiere, heat the daubiere with the ingredients very slowly. I use a cast iron skillet to act as a diffuser. Sometimes it takes an hour for my daube to come to a simmer. Cooking in clay is not a race and you will be richly rewarded with heavenly scents and the most tender meat ever.
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Francois de Melogue is a photographer, reformed chef, cookbook author, and bon vivant. He lives in Saint Albans, Vermont, with his wife Lisa and 13-year-old son Beaumont. Francois’s photography is available for sale at his online gallery. Click here for Video recipes.
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