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Fresh Pork jowl/cheek


saucée

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I have two fresh pork jowls in my freezer. I've been looking for information on them but haven't been able to find any. I love smoked jowls for their good mix of meatiness and fat but I'm not sure what to do with fresh ones and no one seems to use them (or at least no one wants to talk about it).

What I do for fresh jowls? I am going to braise them for sure but they are covered with an amazing amount of fat. Should I cut off as much fat as possible and braise them the night before in order to fully degrease the sauce?

Does anybody have any thoughts for braising pork jowl? Are there any other preparations that I don't know about?

josh

josh

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Here is something different. A Filipino specialty from Pampanga called sizzling sisig, a highly seasoned minced pork meat and skin, mostly from the head, mixed with some chopped liver. It is served on a sizzling platter with plain rice and some beer. I don't have a recipe but it is an easy google away.

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What I do for fresh jowls? I am going to braise them for sure but they are covered with an amazing amount of fat. Should I cut off as much fat as possible and braise them the night before in order to fully degrease the sauce?

Ab-so-lutely on the money......... a most under-rated cut IMHO.

Braise, casserole, daube, pot au feu........generally anything slow and anything that can be re-heated and therefore gelatinously heaven.

"It's true I crept the boards in my youth, but I never had it in my blood, and that's what so essential isn't it? The theatrical zeal in the veins. Alas, I have little more than vintage wine and memories." - Montague Withnail.

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I agree that a slow braise is the way to go. However, I grew up with my grandmother making pig cheeks on a regular basis. She actually cut the cheeks into cutlets and then seasoned them with salt and pepper, floured the cutlets and then pan fried them. Once finished she made a pan gravy from the rendered fat - believe me there was plenty of pork fatty goodness. She called them "pork cutlets" and I had no clue they were actually pig cheeks until I was a teenager. The cheeks were "chewey" but in my opinion it didn't matter b/c the flavor was outstanding.

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Here's a link to a recipe my pork purveyor here in Madison (Willow Creek) recommended. I've made it once, and it was delicious.

http://www.whatgeekseat.com/wordpress/2007...ks-and-polenta/

Thanks, I hadn't seen this before. Coincidentally, I live in Madison and get my pork from Willow Creek. That's a cool blog; I can't believe I hadn't found it before.

It looks like the consensus, for the most part, is braising so I think I'm going to braise them with wine and chestnuts, maybe with some gnocchi as an accompaniment, for a good, rich cold weather bowl of deliciousness.

josh

josh

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That is indeed a coincidence-- wow! Willow Creek has wonderful pork, I'm especially a fan of their L'Etoile chops.

This thread has inspired me to make guanciale with the jowls I have in my freezer at the moment. We'll see what happens...

Here's a link to a recipe my pork purveyor here in Madison (Willow Creek) recommended. I've made it once, and it was delicious.

http://www.whatgeekseat.com/wordpress/2007...ks-and-polenta/

Thanks, I hadn't seen this before. Coincidentally, I live in Madison and get my pork from Willow Creek. That's a cool blog; I can't believe I hadn't found it before.

It looks like the consensus, for the most part, is braising so I think I'm going to braise them with wine and chestnuts, maybe with some gnocchi as an accompaniment, for a good, rich cold weather bowl of deliciousness.

josh

Food is a convenient way for ordinary people to experience extraordinary pleasure, to live it up a bit.

-- William Grimes

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I love the l'Etoile chops too and Willow Creek has amazing products; I'm lucky to be able to buy from them and other Madison purveyors. What Madison lacks in restaurants, it makes up in raw product.

So I braised the jowls and they were quite good:

gallery_55092_4871_748988.jpg

I braised them with some wine, chicken stock, mirepoix, cinnamon clove juniper bay, and added some chestnuts. It was over the top: gelatinous, unctuous (I know this word has been called out as pretentious in another thread, but this is all I can think of), and rich.

I've never worked with this cut before and I know it's been relegated to the variety meats category but it's well worth it. Treat yourself to some pork jowl.

josh

josh

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  • 1 year later...

So, I never imagined a pork jowel could be so big, but the one I bought at the farmer's market yesterday is rather immense, two pounds of fatty pork goodness. Seems like it should be marinated, browned and braised and served atop lentils -- ie, treat it like belly -- but I am eager to hear other suggestions.

Coincidentally, a friend had a slice of jowel at a dinner at the brilliant CityZen Saturday night, but beyond tatsting a small sliver and gushing over it, I made no serious notes regarding its prep.

It's the best snow in four years here in DC, jowel seems like the perfect dinner on a day like this, so I'm putting myself in your hands.

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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ooh, you are so lucky--I have about 1/4 pound of jowl left from the last pig we bought--it is fabulous. I used it like guanciale and made this fabulous sauce for pasta from the NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/dining/1...uanciale&st=cse

But I'm equally sure that it would be wonderful with lentils--and some roasted red pepper, maybe...

Zoe

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I like to braise or confit . Low and slow is the way to go ;). Its good with mash and perhaps salsa verde or mustard. Once cooked and cooled you can also cut into hearty slices and fry them off. The possibilities are endless. Try looking east, red braised etc.

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Coincidentally, we have guanciale in the fridge, courtesy of a friend who hits Arthur Avenue in the Bronx when he visits his daughter at Fordham.

Probably more interested in cooking as is than curing anything.

[How's Uzes? A friend of mine who turns out to be a secret artist just gave me an immense watercolor of a turret on the Duchy based on a picture I took (and that my wife smuggled to him). It's extraordinary and I almost bought a one-way to Nice-Cote d'Azure the instant I unwrapped it.]

Edited by Busboy (log)

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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My second choice would be grilling it, but considering the weather... my third choice would be the lentils you described.

You're lucky you can get your hands on pork jowls, I had to special order them. My first choice, Gunaciale is curing in the wine cooler.

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Pork cheek braises to incredibly tender with great speed. So generally I recommend braise, because it's foolproof and the end product is pure delicious. 90 minutes will get you firm but tender, and 120 minutes will get you fork-tender.

One of my greatest hits was pork cheeks braised with poblano peppers (I believe the liquid was a bit of soy, a teensy bit of miso to emulsify, and a generous helping of mirin), served as an eggs benny. I find you don't need a lot of braising liquid as the cheeks will release a lot of juices. I just start it on the stovetop, put a lid on it, and stick it in the oven at 300 degrees for 90-120 minutes depending on desired consistency. Or longer if you want to be sure it melts in your mouth ;)

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It's funny - I braise beef cheeks pretty often, but never pork cheeks. But when I do beef cheeks it's more like 8 hours in a slow oven than the two hours suggested above. But then, cows chew their cud, whereas pigs just...pig out...so maybe their cheeks have a much different level of tenderness.

Buy that ticket!

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Holy shit, my wife and I conspired to turn that hog jowl into some serious dinner. You should eat this stuff.

The recipe is vague, as it was mostly executed while drinking and arguing and the rub was applied after a late night with two of DC's finest sommelieres, but basically, we made a rub based on this recipe, only we substituted a great deal of five spice powder for the oregano, and smooshed it into the jowl.

After letting the pork rest overnight, we broiled it crisp on both sides and then threw it in a brazing pot on top of onions, apples, pork stock (we bought some neck bones and did a quick and dirty dirty stock) cider and Gewurtztraminer. Stephanie added a little brew of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and some mystery ingredient that looks like plum sauce but isn't to the braise and we shoved a covered pot in a 285 degree oven for three-ish hours.

Meanwhile, we threw some of the wine, lots of the pork stock, a gang of roasted garlic and some caramelized shallots into a pot and made a batch of lentils.

After about three hours, we pulled the jowl, chilled the braising liquid until we could skim the fat, and then re-warmed the meat in the resulting pot liquor. Served over the lentils, it was freakin' unbelievable. One of the best thing we've cooked in a long time. And, though there's an intimidating amount of fat in the raw materials, it renders out nicely.

Jowl makes pork belly taste like health food.

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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My photography skills are so poor compared to others who post here -- this means you, Abra -- that I'm too discouraged tto post.

Turns out, by the way, that the mystery ingredient was "Thick Soy Sauce" which, according to the ingredients list on the side of the jar, is molasses. salt and "soya bean extract" -- possibly not available as such in some locations but, I think, relatively easily duplicated.

Edited by Busboy (log)

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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  • 1 month later...

Well, they are a very tough cut that need a lot of cooking, so slow and low is your best bet. A braise or a stew, or a slow roast.

I'm not sure if guanciale (sp?) is cheek. I mean, I know it is "jowl" but I don't know if jowl and cheek are the same or not. But guanciale is fantastic.

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Well, they are a very tough cut that need a lot of cooking, so slow and low is your best bet. A braise or a stew, or a slow roast.

I'm not sure if guanciale (sp?) is cheek. I mean, I know it is "jowl" but I don't know if jowl and cheek are the same or not. But guanciale is fantastic.

I am having a little trouble with the difference between cheek and jowl but, based on this chart, it appears that the jowl is the cut that runs from below the cheek, under the chin and back up the other side a bit.

Guanciale is jowl that has been cured.

I am no cheek expert but, in my experience, cheeks tend to be less fatty and more meaty than jowls, and the fat tends to be mixed a little more finely into the meat. But this is a relative thing; cheeks ain't lean. Once, in Paris, I was served a pork cheek that appeared to have been braised or slow-roasted and then roasted crisp on the outside. There was a spectacular crunch and then the whole thing melted ino my mouth. I'm going to attempt something like this next time I get near either a jowl or a cheek.

I'm on the pavement

Thinking about the government.

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I decided to make a few things, one is a pork cheek chili, that is going in my slow cooker, and im marinating cheeks in mirin, soy, garlic, ginger, honey, sriracha, lime juice, and then tomorrow will braise this and maybe finish in the oven or broiler to crisp it up a bit. I also reserved a couple cheeks for Guanciale, which is now curing. I will report back soon, maybe with photos.

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