# okay..PORK CHEEKS



## boomchakabowwow (Mar 8, 2018)

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..


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## boomchakabowwow (Mar 8, 2018)

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


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## Jovidah (Mar 8, 2018)

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.


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## pete84 (Mar 8, 2018)

Guanciale all the way


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## panda (Mar 8, 2018)

Guanciale ftw!!


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## Xenif (Mar 8, 2018)

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.


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## DamageInc (Mar 8, 2018)

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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## boomchakabowwow (Mar 8, 2018)

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.


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## boomchakabowwow (Mar 8, 2018)

panda said:


> Guanciale ftw!!



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


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## panda (Mar 8, 2018)

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/


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## fimbulvetr (Mar 8, 2018)

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.


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## fimbulvetr (Mar 8, 2018)

And now I want sisig.


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## Bill13 (Mar 8, 2018)

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.


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## parbaked (Mar 8, 2018)

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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## fimbulvetr (Mar 8, 2018)

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...



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


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## parbaked (Mar 8, 2018)

Yes and beer!


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## parbaked (Mar 8, 2018)

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


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## Anton (Mar 8, 2018)

Now I need to buy some pork cheeks. Taco time


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## Mucho Bocho (Mar 8, 2018)

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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## panda (Mar 8, 2018)

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.


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## Kippington (Mar 8, 2018)

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.



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*.



That's my word of the day.


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## McMan (Mar 9, 2018)

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...


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## DamageInc (Mar 9, 2018)

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...



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.


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## Badgertooth (Mar 9, 2018)

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.


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## Badgertooth (Mar 9, 2018)

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



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


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## MarcelNL (Mar 9, 2018)

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.


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## Devon_Steven (Mar 9, 2018)

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)


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## Devon_Steven (Mar 9, 2018)

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).


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## tgfencer (Mar 9, 2018)

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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## Devon_Steven (Mar 9, 2018)

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.



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...


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## Devon_Steven (Mar 9, 2018)

tgfencer said:


> 2 quid for an entire pig head is a ridiculous deal Steven.



Oh, and, even better, these are rare-breed pigs!

(unfortunately, the butcher never knows which particular breed he receives, but they are always one of the 'rare-breeds' - in otherwords, smaller and slower growing than more modern and mass-produced breeds)


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## Mucho Bocho (Mar 9, 2018)

Wow Devon, Thanks for documenting your process. Impressive knife skills Buffalo Bill would be envious of. Sweet gear, Whats that Salumi below, Salami? Ver even ferment. How long have they been curing for?


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## Mucho Bocho (Mar 9, 2018)

DamageInc said:


> 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'm going to go this route, san the dairy. I'm thinking it will scorch in the Pressure Cooker. I think I'm going to cook it at full pressure for 40 min. then let it cool naturally and completely. The remove and rework the sauce with dairy.


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## Xenif (Mar 9, 2018)

Devon_Steven said:


> 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...



I used to get these sausages made by a German butcher here and they were head meat, and they were awesome. They also make very good dumpling filling meat, especially shao long bao (soup filled dumplings).


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## DamageInc (Mar 9, 2018)

Mucho Bocho said:


> I'm going to go this route, san the dairy. I'm thinking it will scorch in the Pressure Cooker. I think I'm going to cook it at full pressure for 40 min. then let it cool naturally and completely. The remove and rework the sauce with dairy.



I just noticed that I consistently write flower instead of flour when typing fast. Damn is that annoying.

I tend to not pressure cook pork cheeks as they don't really take that long to braise anyway. I have to be cooking shanks or something like that if I'm busting out the pressure cooker. Needless to say, the creme fraiche takes on a much different flavor profile if braised for a while compared to being stirred in at the end. I prefer the cooked version, but do what you want.


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## Mucho Bocho (Mar 9, 2018)

D, Agreed, the dairy does change and develop a more mello/sweeter character when long braised. Just didn't want to scorch it. 

I like braises for more tender cooking but this cheek has to be the toughest piece of meat I've ever delt with. Even when free of fat, cartilage a fork will barely pierce it. 

I've decided to pull it for taco's. I'll make fresh masa taco's and top with the tender beefy meat with some lime, minced white onion with a cilantro sauce.

Think I should use some of the cheek clear fat render to mix in with the masa? I bet they would fry up nicely?


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## DamageInc (Mar 9, 2018)

I find the fat from pork cheeks contains too much gelatin. I don't like to fry with it.

Sounds like you are dealing with some seriously tough cheeks. The ones I used to make are fork tender after 60-90 minutes of gentle braising.


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## tgfencer (Mar 9, 2018)

Devon_Steven said:


> Oh, and, even better, these are rare-breed pigs!
> 
> (unfortunately, the butcher never knows which particular breed he receives, but they are always one of the 'rare-breeds' - in otherwords, smaller and slower growing than more modern and mass-produced breeds)



I'm not surprised the butcher doesn't know what breed the heritage breed pigs are, its generally not really discussed unless the butcher also happens to raise the pigs. Most farmers breed a mix, i.e. a one breed of boar with another breed of sow to help with favorable genetics. My farm's current setup is a duroc-yorkshire boar with landrace/hampshire sows (all heritage breeds). We also have a red wattle boar, which is an interesting heritage breed that has these fleshy testicle like 'wattles' that hang down from the either side of the neck. First piglets he had sired are due next month, I'm hoping they have tiny little wattles when they're born!


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## Mucho Bocho (Mar 9, 2018)

DamageInc said:


> I find the fat from pork cheeks contains too much gelatin. I don't like to fry with it.
> 
> Sounds like you are dealing with some seriously tough cheeks. The ones I used to make are fork tender after 60-90 minutes of gentle braising.



So I pulled them from a 60 min pressure cook. Left it to cool for an hour. It got tender, but hardly shrank.

I'll take your advise on the cheek fat.


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## boomchakabowwow (Mar 9, 2018)

you all have my head swimming with new info.

i checked,the block is still frozen solid in the fridge. i am doing a gentle thaw..i cant wait to find out what one looks like. i have no idea what to expect. i dont see much skin in the package.


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## boomchakabowwow (Mar 12, 2018)

fimbulvetr said:


> 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.




This. I got fist sized balls of meat. Not the entire jowl. 

Got some char sui marinateing. Will ponder a braise next. Something over spaghetti I hope.


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## fimbulvetr (Mar 12, 2018)

I really like pork cheeks braised in rice wine and chicken stock to mimic the meat sauce over Dan Dan noodles. Serve that over wheat noodles, rice noodles, or whatever.


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## Devon_Steven (Mar 12, 2018)

Mucho Bocho said:


> Wow Devon, Thanks for documenting your process. Impressive knife skills Buffalo Bill would be envious of. Sweet gear, Whats that Salumi below, Salami? Ver even ferment. How long have they been curing for?



Those pics are from a while back, I think the salami are about 14 days old at that stage.

Here's a day by day album of mould growth (I think with the same batch of salami) https://www.flickr.com/gp/[email protected]/54fR25


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## Devon_Steven (Mar 12, 2018)

tgfencer said:


> I'm not surprised the butcher doesn't know what breed the heritage breed pigs are, its generally not really discussed unless the butcher also happens to raise the pigs. Most farmers breed a mix, i.e. a one breed of boar with another breed of sow to help with favorable genetics. My farm's current setup is a duroc-yorkshire boar with landrace/hampshire sows (all heritage breeds). We also have a red wattle boar, which is an interesting heritage breed that has these fleshy testicle like 'wattles' that hang down from the either side of the neck. First piglets he had sired are due next month, I'm hoping they have tiny little wattles when they're born!



Yes, interesting insights... I forget that the cross-breeding like you are doing can make things rather complicated (too complicated for the butcher to bother with).


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## Jovidah (Mar 12, 2018)

A (pretty long) while back I tried an adaptation of an existing veal cheek recipe that worked out pretty well. Pretty basic; mirepoix (carrot, onions, celeriac, garlic...), some tomato puree, veal stock, rosemary, time, bay leaf... but I changed things up and swapped out the red wine for pedro ximenez. After braising, take out the meat, reduce the sauce by half to a somewhat syrupy consistency and then toss back in the meat. PX does miracles. 
Also surprisingly easy to produce ahead in bulk - as long as you have the time to trim all the veal cheeks.


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## boomchakabowwow (Mar 12, 2018)

fimbulvetr said:


> I really like pork cheeks braised in rice wine and chicken stock to mimic the meat sauce over Dan Dan noodles. Serve that over wheat noodles, rice noodles, or whatever.



wow..one of my favorite dishes.


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## Mucho Bocho (Mar 13, 2018)

So I turned the beef cheeks into a beef stew encroute. Even after 60 min of pressure cooking and letting it cool naturally, the cheek was still hard to pull apart. The flavor was excellent I'm just not convinced it was worth the effort. Fun though.


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## panda (Mar 13, 2018)

Low and slow.. can also soak overnight in plum wine before cooking.


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## Jovidah (Mar 13, 2018)

I've never used a pressure cooker, and always used veal (which are probably more tender) but I always gave them way longer than 60 minutes. Basically get them started & up to temperature, and then toss the whole pan (covered) into something like a 60-70 degree (celcius) oven for hours on end. Completely foolproof and much easier to do than on the stove.


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## DamageInc (Mar 13, 2018)

Mucho Bocho said:


> So I turned the beef cheeks into a beef stew encroute. Even after 60 min of pressure cooking and letting it cool naturally, the cheek was still hard to pull apart. The flavor was excellent I'm just not convinced it was worth the effort. Fun though.



Next time you have beef cheeks, try this

[video=youtube;Q2d25FcBZ2U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2d25FcBZ2U[/video]


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## boomchakabowwow (Mar 13, 2018)

i'm just gonna say it.

pork cheeks are way to rich for char sui. damn it.

i'm gonna braise the rest. make a ragu.


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