# Cheek Trifecta--Roasted Jowl/Belly



## Mucho Bocho (Jun 24, 2013)

Cheek Trifecta--Roasted Jowl/Belly

As some of you may know that Zwiefel came by my house in Raleigh, NC on Saturday for a visit and I made him some Roasted Pig Jowls. Ive received a couple of request for the recipe so I wanted to share. 

Im not saying that my way is the best, but Ive never had better. The reason I became a knife nut in the first place was to improve my food. Ill also say that I take steps (interventions) and use ingredients that others would find unnecessary even down right crazy. Im a Modernist cook too. 

What Im shooting for is a crust of 100% edible semi-soft chicharron on top of a soft, mostly rendered fat layer with a meaty base of pork. 

Cheek Trifecta.

10LBS Fresh Jowls
2 L Distilled Water
5g Phosphate (Pork FAB)
5g Mortons Quick Tender (A low level Nitrate/Nitrite salt)
10g Sodium Erythrobate (Powerful anti-oxidant and quick cure facilitator)
2 LBS Ice
Safflower Oil
Maldon Salt


1.)	Wash fresh Jowls. Pat dry. Place skin side down and slice off the top ½ of fat and salivary glands (till all little brown spots (glands) are removed). Shave skin with razors until all (most) of the stubble is gone.
2.)	Add Jowl and curing agents with water and Ice in a chamber, pressurize and Tumble for 60 minutes. Refrigerate tumbler under pressure for 24hrs. Shake it once in a while.
3.)	Depressureize jowls, wash, pat dry, section each Jowl into four pieces. Wrap in shrink, package 4 jowl quarters per bag and seal under max vacuum. 
4.)	Sous Vide for 80hrs at 140F/60C then wemove and chill completely.
5.)	Discard packaging, run under warm water to remove all collagen gel. Cross-hatch score the skin. Rub a dash of baking soda on skin. Leave open in refrigerator for 1hr.
6.)	Warm pan very well on low heat. Oil pan and brown skin slowly in large skillet, flip and cook internal temp is 140/60. Place on broiler pan, stick with thermocouple (thermometer) and bake till internal is 200/205.
7.)	Hit them with Maldon salt and let them rest for 10 minutes till internal temp is 160.

Equipment used:
Bic Disposable Razors
Konosuke 240 HD Kiritsuke Gyuto
300mm Stainless Yusuke Sakai
Crock Pot Sous Vide rig
14 debuyer fry pan
Thermopen Sous Vide needle thermocouple with K-Type meter
Vacmaster VP 112 Chamber vacuum
Marinade ExpressHome Vacuum tumbler http://marinadeexpress.com/


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## brainsausage (Jun 24, 2013)

Looks great. I've been playing with the idea of picking up a vaccuum tumbler for the restaurant...


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## Mucho Bocho (Jun 24, 2013)

BSausage, I love it. I've had it for tow years now. They offer two size chambers. The large one will allow you to do 20 LBS meat easilly. Its quiet, reliable and all exposes parts are dishwasher safe!

I've spoken with the inventor, the originally designed it to remove mercury from fish. But as you could imagine, the market was too small so they rebranded it as a home marinading machine. I've yet to use it to marinade anything.


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## Zwiefel (Jun 24, 2013)

sooooo.....If I make this, I can buy more toys?


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## Mike9 (Jun 24, 2013)

For us "tumbler deprived" folks are there any alternatives? Looks delicious by the way -


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## Mucho Bocho (Jun 24, 2013)

Mike, Thanks. A tumbler isn't necessary. Just double the brine and soak for 48hrs as opposed to 24hrs.


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## Mike9 (Jun 24, 2013)

Cool - a friend and I have been talking about slaughtering a pig this fall. I know a guy who grows some really awesome pig meat.


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## rahimlee54 (Jun 25, 2013)

Could you please enlighten me to the purpose of the cure for a pretty immediate prep. What would be the advantage over salt.

Thanks
Jared


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## stereo.pete (Jun 25, 2013)

Amazing sir, thanks for sharing!


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## Mucho Bocho (Jun 25, 2013)

Jared, Not sure I know what your asking. 

You can cure with a salty brine sure. It will take longer to pepetrate into the fat giving you a slightly firmer texture closer to the surface. This will give you a slightly tougher cooked product closer to the surface. You'll also want the product to rest uncoked a few days out of the cure to allow it to spread out evenly. If you're just using salt, what I would do is:

1.) Create a salt water solution so that a potato will sink. Try 90g kosher salt to 1000g water (should taste like sea water).
2.) add prepped jowls, put something on top so they are complete submerged. Can be done in a plastic bag too. Brine for two days.
3.) remove from brine, and soak in distilled water for 30 minutes. Pat dry, put in refrigerator for two days before sous vide.





rahimlee54 said:


> Could you please enlighten me to the purpose of the cure for a pretty immediate prep. What would be the advantage over salt.
> 
> Thanks
> Jared


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## rahimlee54 (Jun 25, 2013)

I was thinking of the nitrates and such as a cure for preservation something like with bacon. I was wondering what other benefits it had, maybe I needed to use them for other things as well.


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## Mucho Bocho (Jun 25, 2013)

RAH, 

Nitrates and Nitrites
One of the things that happens when sodium nitrate is used as a curing agent is that the sodium nitrate is converted to sodium nitrite. It's sodium nitrite that actually possesses the antimicrobial properties that make it a good preservative. Interestingly, the sodium nitrate that we consume through fruits, vegetables and grains is also converted to sodium nitrite by our digestive process. In other words, when we eat fruits, vegetables or grains, our bodies produce sodium nitrite. 

Nitrites and Cancer
Several decades ago, some researchers raised the possibility that nitrites could be linked to cancer in laboratory rats. This suggestion received a lot of media attention. What received less media attention, however, was when further research revealed that they were wrong. Indeed, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Cancer Society and the National Research Council all agree that there's no proof of cancer risk from consuming sodium nitrite.


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## franzb69 (Jun 25, 2013)

> Nitrites and Cancer
> Several decades ago, some researchers raised the possibility that nitrites could be linked to cancer in laboratory rats. This suggestion received a lot of media attention. What received less media attention, however, was when further research revealed that they were wrong. Indeed, the National Academy of Sciences, the American Cancer Society and the National Research Council all agree that there's no proof of cancer risk from consuming sodium nitrite.



i'm no expert but perhaps the concentrations of said nitrates and nitrates being in our system might be the problem. just saying. =D


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## Lucretia (Jun 25, 2013)

Do you have any problems with "razor stubble" after cooking?


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## Mucho Bocho (Jun 25, 2013)

Lucretia, I was worried about that too. Even though I could feel a little stubble even after hitting them hard with the razor. I've never noticed it when consuming them. I think because they get such a good sear, it probably singes them.


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## franzb69 (Jun 25, 2013)

razor and maybe pluck them out with a tweezer after the cure would help if any more follicles are left in there. that's what we always do when there are ones that are hard to get it out.


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## Duckfat (Jun 25, 2013)

Just kiss them with a torch. That'd be a real time killer with tweezers or hemostats.


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## Zwiefel (Jun 25, 2013)

Mucho Bocho said:


> Lucretia, I was worried about that too. Even though I could feel a little stubble even after hitting them hard with the razor. I've never noticed it when consuming them. I think because they get such a good sear, it probably singes them.



This would be my assessment as well.


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## rdm_magic (Jul 5, 2013)

Mucho Bocho said:


> Cheek Trifecta--Roasted Jowl/Belly
> 
> As some of you may know that Zwiefel came by my house in Raleigh, NC on Saturday for a visit and I made him some Roasted Pig Jowls. Ive received a couple of request for the recipe so I wanted to share.
> 
> ...



Is that supposed to be 80, or 8?


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## Zwiefel (Jul 5, 2013)

rdm_magic said:


> Is that supposed to be 80, or 8?



Yup, 80.


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