Raiding the Kitchen: Niche (Updated with text of recipe!)

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replying the story in its archived form does not constitute a re-publiccation of the story.

Niche is one of St. Louis hottest restaurants, and Gerard Craft is one of the nation's hottest chefs. We already knew how good he was in this area, but when Food and Wine Magazine named him one of the nation's best young chefs, everybody was clued in.

Chef Craft took the time to hang out with ToastedRav.com, and show us a few tricks along the way. Click on the Featured Video tab for this latest addition of Raiding the Kitchen. On the menu: Pork Cheek.

Here's the recipe!:

Slow Roasted Pork Cheeks

1 2lb Pork Cheek (room temp)

2 Heaping T Sugar

1 ½ T Salt

1 Teaspoon picked thyme leaves

½ T Coarse Black Pepper

3 Garlic Cloves Crushed

Place pork cheek in a heavy based pan and cover with foil. Place in a preheated oven at 375 degrees and let roast for 4 hrs.

Pull cheek out of oven and uncover.

Place cheek in pan under broiler and allow to brown on top.

Sautéed Wild Mushrooms

¼ lb wild mushrooms

1 T unsalted butter

Place 1/4lb of wild mushrooms in a smoking -hot pan and allow them to caramelize on one side. Stir mushrooms with a cooking spoon and allow them to caramelize a little more, be careful not to burn them. Place heat on low and add butter and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Trotter Jus

1 Cup Trotter Stock (you can substitute pork stock, veal stock, or chicken stock)

1 t picked thyme

juice of 1 lemon

Place stock in a saucepan and reduce on high heat until slightly thickened. Add lemon juice until just slightly tart and add thyme. Season sauce with salt and pepper as needed.

Served with toast, and a salad of Arugula and pickled vegetables.

P.S. This episode of Raiding the Kitchen was shot the day the Craft's second daughter was due to be born. She took her time, but Olive Yuriko Craft joined us this past Saturday, July 5. 8 lbs. 2 oz.

This article also has 1 video attached to it.