Sticky Pork Cheek Slider Burgers with Crispy Shallots
Bex Blundy
10-12
20 minutes
105 minutes
These striking charcoal slider buns are Gothic in colour, but their taste is that of a beautifully sweet brioche bun. With slow-cooked shredded pork cheeks in a sticky blackberry and high quality soy sauce, these sliders make for a really great canapé at a Halloween party (or any autumnal gathering or dinner party!) If you have meat-eaters and vegetarians at your dinner party, you can make one larger batch of this glossy, sticky sauce and make our Sticky Oyster Mushroom Slider Burgers with Crispy Shallots, as well!
Ingredients
12 pork cheeks
Charcoal slider buns 10-12
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper, to season
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350ml water (plus 2 tablespoons for the thickening slurry)
40ml soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, crushed
60g blackberry puree
40ml apple cider vinegar
15ml mirin
40g brown sugar
1 cinnamon stick
1 star anise
2 cloves
1 tsp chilli flakes
2 tablespoons cornflour
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4 shallots
20g flour
20g cornflour
Salt and pepper, to season
500ml neutral oil, for frying
Directions
Preheat oven to 180 degrees.
If your pork cheeks have a white membrane on top, cut this off before cooking. Season the cheeks with salt and pepper.
Sear off the pork cheeks until brown on each side in a drizzle of olive oil with the crushed garlic, then remove from the heat.
Whisk together the 40ml soy sauce, 60g blackberry puree, 250ml water, 15ml mirin, 40ml apple cider vinegar, 40g brown sugar, the fried off crushed garlic, a pinch of salt, the chilli flakes, the star anise, cloves and cinnamon stick in a sauce pan. Heat the sauce on a hob on medium heat to combine, whisking until the sugar is all dissolved, about 5 mins.
Cover the pork cheeks in about three quarter of the sauce, seal in a tray and roast at 180 degrees for 1 hour 45 mins (turning over the cheeks at the 1 hour mark).
Sieve the remaining the sauce to remove the cloves, cinnamon stick, but keep the garlic cloves in the sauce. Add a cornflour slurry made of 2 tablespoons of cornflour and 2 tablespoons of water and heat again, until the sauce has thickened and is sticky, about 8 mins.
Prepare the crispy shallots by peeling and slicing the 8 shallots into rings that are about 5mm in thickness. Coat them in the 20g corn flour, 20g flour mix, seasoned with salt and pepper.
Line a plate with kitchen roll.
Heat 500ml of neutral oil to 180 degrees, then fry the shallot rings for 2-3 mins, in batches, until they’re crisp and lightly browned. When you pull them out of the frying oil, leave them on the kitchen roll to cool and crisp, sprinkling with some salt to taste.
Remove the pork cheeks from the oven, they should be tender and soft now. Shred them with two forks and put them on a plate to the side.
Sieve the sauce into a separate sauce pan to remove the cloves, star anise and the cinnamon stick. Make a slurry with some water and the 2 tablespoons cornflour and add to the sauce, thickening until sticky.
Cut open the slider buns. Add in a generous portion of pork cheek to each, brush with some of the thickened sauce and top with some crispy shallot rings.
Ingredients you'll need
