okay..PORK CHEEKS

i am itching to try some. i called my local small batch butcher and asked. they have some!!

they are frozen into 5lb bags. $2.99 per lb. super cheap..i thought it was a typo! i grabbed a bag, and will thaw it, portion it off and refreeze. the butcher okay'd my idea.

who knew the odd bits are so cheap? i do know they sometimes smoke them for dog treats.

this place finishes the hogs with a diet of walnuts before slaughter..hehe..

dang.i should buy the entire head and make a head cheese loaf. now that would be uncharted territory for me.

Cheeks are so cheap because almost no one bothers to use them. Main reason for that is that they can be a bit of work to trim (for unexperienced hom cooks) and they take quite some time to get tender, so they're not exactly a 'fry and go'-affair.

Guanciale all the way

Guanciale ftw!!

If you trim them and cut across the grain in thin slices, they make excellent korean bbq.

Porks cheeks and pork neck is very popular in asian cuisine.

I tend to braise them in a mixture of chicken stock, white wine, and creme fraiche. Along with some sweated leek and garlic.

i have a frozen block of it. curious to see how much trimming i will need to do. you talking face skin?

i just told my Philippine front office lady..she is stoked and i gonna go and buy some. she said it is difficult to find in her community.

panda said:

Guanciale ftw!!

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wow..just google that!! whoa. beyond my feeble skills found in my cooking quiver tho.

only hard part is waiting for it to cure. breakfast pizza with fontina, egg and shaved guanciale is well worth it.

https://stefangourmet.com/2014/06/09/homemade-guanciale/

One thing worth mentioning is that, at least around here, asking for pork cheeks will get you the silver dollar or smaller muscles from right over the cheekbone. Pork JOWL is what you ask for to get the big, glorious, triangular bundle of meat, fat, and often skin that you can guancialize. Ymmv, of course, depending on your region, but it might matter to your butcher, so it’s good to ask.

And now I want sisig.

Is it a good idea to thaw and then refreeze? I have not had good results in the past when I have done so with other cuts of meet and this includes beef and chicken too. Maybe pork cheeks are different or I am doing something wrong? Regardless I'm jealous pork cheeks are awesome.

Yeah, guanciale is from the neck or jowl, not the cheek. In Japan that cut is called tontoro and is tasty grilled yakitori style...

parbaked said:

Yeah, guanciale is from the neck or jowl, not the cheek. In Japan that cut is called tontoro and is tasty grilled yakitori style...

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Now I want that. I want tontoro, suddenly, a lot.

Yes and beer!

I'd treat Jowl like belly...it's fat.
I'd treat Cheek like shoulder..low and slow.

Now I need to buy some pork cheeks. Taco time

Ironically I picked up a pack of beef cheeks. There is so much fat and sinu to trim off. Really tough fibrous gnarly ugly fat. I pickled the meat part and am going to pressure cook and treat like a short rib. I’ll update after cooking

yes JOWL is what im referring to. it's mostly just fat.

mucho, clean sear then braise is the way to go with beef cheeks. i actually prefer chix stock and white wine instead of veal and red wine as it makes it kinda gamey.

DamageInc said:

I tend to braise them in a mixture of chicken stock, white wine, and creme fraiche. Along with some sweated leek and garlic.

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This sounds amazing! Is the creme fraiche part of the braising liquid? I've never seen a dairy product get used like that...

fimbulvetr said:

Pork JOWL is what you ask for to get the big, glorious, triangular bundle of meat, fat, and often skin that you can guancialize.

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That's my word of the day.

That's short $--stock the freezer! See if they'll throw in the ears, too (tacos!)

Wine. Get some good dried mushrooms, leeks, and red wine involved... Otherwise, treat em like Osso Buco. (I had veal cheeks like this once, which were excellent).
Mole. It's going to take a while to braise pork cheeks, so might as well take even more time to rough out a mole to braise em in...

Kippington said:

This sounds amazing! Is the creme fraiche part of the braising liquid? I've never seen a dairy product get used like that...

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Dairy in braising liquid is not all that uncommon. Try it out. Coat the pork cheeks in flower and brown them in pan. Sweat the leek and garlic afterwards and then deglaze with white wine. Reduce, then add chicken stock and full fat creme fraiche. Bring to a simmer and add back the pork cheeks. Then braise for 90 minutes or so.

I do pork cheeks seared then braised with sweated onions, stock, prunes and Madeira. I finish the sauce with mustard and crême fraiche. Rich, but luverly.

Mucho Bocho said:

Ironically I picked up a pack of beef cheeks. There is so much fat and sinu to trim off. Really tough fibrous gnarly ugly fat. I pickled the meat part and am going to pressure cook and treat like a short rib. I’ll update after cooking

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Eager to hear your thoughts.
I think it cooks down into one of the most decadent and lovely bits of meat. It should spoon off on semi gelatinous flakes and all that broken down collagen in the braising liquid makes for a very good, deep mouth-coating sauce

I had some Iberico cheeks a while ago, and did in fact treat them similar to osso bucco (as at least 24h simmering, w pepato lungo etc). Brilliant stuff! Little gremolate on top and a mushroom risotto on the side.

Guanciale is not too much trouble, I make it all the time, along with pancetta. Haven't bought any cured pork for some years now!


Once when I asked a butcher for cheeks, I got the small muscle, but most butchers here will give you the entire cheek, as per the photo below.




Here (in the UK), ox cheeks are always sold as the small muscle.

Anyway, I don't know any butchers here that put whole cheeks out for sale, I need to ask. For the last while, I've been getting entire heads (£2 per head!!!). So I get to remove the cheeks myself which makes for a nicer job than the butcher doing it, and I get to make plenty stock, head cheese or whatever I fancy.








Making the guanciale (or pancetta) is straightforward, you'll find plenty advice on internet forums. This is the one I learned from: https://forum.sausagemaking.org/


The only thing you'll need that you don't already have is Cure #1 (sodium nitrite).

Per kilo of meat I use:

2.4g sodium nitrite
35g sea salt
15g sugar
5g peppercorns
4g cloves
some herbs, often rosemary



The only vital measurements are the sea (or rock) salt and the curing salt (sodium nitrite). The other ingredients are for flavour (the sugar helps to offset the saltiness in the finished product).





Cured and ready for the smoker





In the smoker









Next day, all smoked





Finally, a few weeks in the curing chamber to dry out a bit (you can eat it immediately, but if you want to store it for any length of time it needs to dry out a bit to prevent spoilage)

I should add, for guanciale and pancetta, you can get away without the curing chamber, esp. if you have somewhere cool and reasonably dry to hang your product (around 12oC and around 70% relative humidity are nice numbers).

2 quid for an entire pig head is a ridiculous deal Steven. Believe it or not, some farms don't even ask for the heads back from the slaughterhouse and they often just get thrown out. Got in an argument over that once at the farm I work at. I'm not keen on raising animals just to have parts of them go to waste.

tgfencer said:

2 quid for an entire pig head is a ridiculous deal Steven. Believe it or not, some farms don't even ask for the heads back from the slaughterhouse and they often just get thrown out. Got in an argument over that once at the farm I work at. I'm not keen on raising animals just to have parts of them go to waste.

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It is ridiculous, but I ain't complaining about it!

Sadly, the reason that I get such a good deal is that if I wasn't buying these heads, they would go into the bin.

One of the butchers said he had tried the cheeks in sausages but felt that they were not giving the right flavour...