Coq au Vin is my personal soul food. I started making the current round of coq au vin 4 or 5 days ago. Coq au vin is a dish better suited to preparing at a grandmotherly pace. Like all great stews, it is better done slowly over a longer period of time to allow the full flavors to develop and mature. Coq au Vin is best prepared at home where it retains the patina of its origins rather than in a restaurant setting where it dies a soulless death.

When I saw the pork cheeks my mind wandered to a pasta dish I made professionally with wild boar using bittersweet chocolate pasta as a foil to the sweet and spicy notes in the sauce. Hazelnuts, orange, and bittersweet chocolate are the perfect match for fatty, unctuous pork cheeks when perfectly braised.