Sticky Pork Cheek Slider Burgers with Crispy Shallots

Drogo

Servings

10-12

Prep Time

20 minutes

Cook Time

105 minutes

These pork cheek sliders combine slow-cooked, shredded pork with a glossy blackberry and soy sauce, crisp fried shallots and striking charcoal brioche buns. Rich, sticky and deeply savoury, they're designed as a bite-sized canapé for Halloween parties, autumn gatherings and dinner parties.

Pork cheeks become beautifully tender during slow cooking, making them ideal for shredding into these miniature pork cheek burgers. Blackberry purée brings fruitiness and acidity to the sauce, balanced by soy, mirin, apple cider vinegar, brown sugar and warming spices.

The finished sliders serve 10–12 and can be paired with the Sticky Oyster Mushroom Sliders for a vegetarian alternative using a similar blackberry sauce.

Ingredients

  • 12 pork cheeks
  • Charcoal slider buns 10-12
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Salt and pepper, to season

Sticky blackberry sauce

  • 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

Crispy onions

  • 4 shallots
  • 20g flour
  • 20g cornflour
  • Salt and pepper, to season
  • 500ml neutral oil, for frying

Directions

    Method

    1. Step 1, Preheat the oven to 180°C.

    2. Step 2, If the pork cheeks have a white membrane on top, cut this off before cooking. Season the cheeks with salt and pepper.

    3. Step 3, Sear the pork cheeks until brown on each side in a drizzle of olive oil with the crushed garlic, then remove from the heat.

    4. Step 4, Whisk together the 40ml soy sauce, 60g blackberry purée, 250ml water, 15ml mirin, 40ml apple cider vinegar, 40g brown sugar, the fried crushed garlic, a pinch of salt, the chilli flakes, star anise, cloves and cinnamon stick in a saucepan. Heat over a medium heat, whisking until the sugar has dissolved, about 5 minutes.

    5. Step 5, Cover the pork cheeks with around three-quarters of the sauce, seal in a tray and roast at 180°C for 1 hour 45 minutes, turning the cheeks after 1 hour.

    6. Step 6, Sieve the remaining sauce to remove the cloves and cinnamon stick, keeping the garlic in the sauce. Add a cornflour slurry made from 2 tablespoons cornflour and 2 tablespoons water and heat again until thickened and sticky, about 8 minutes.

    7. Step 7, Prepare the crispy shallots by peeling and slicing the shallots into rings around 5mm thick. Coat them in the cornflour and flour mixture seasoned with salt and pepper.

    8. Step 8, Line a plate with kitchen roll.

    9. Step 9, Heat the neutral oil to 180°C, then fry the shallot rings for 2–3 minutes in batches until crisp and lightly browned. Transfer to the kitchen roll and sprinkle with salt to taste.

    10. Step 10, Remove the pork cheeks from the oven. Once tender and soft, shred them with two forks.

    11. Step 11, Sieve the sauce to remove the cloves, star anise and cinnamon stick. Thicken with the cornflour slurry until sticky.

    12. Step 12, Cut open the slider buns, add a generous portion of shredded pork cheek to each, brush with the thickened sauce and finish with crispy shallot rings.

    Ingredients you'll need