Pig Cheeks ?

[Opah]

I have read that the cheeks of pigs are very good, I have not taken the cheeks form any pigs.
Just not sure the is enough to bother with, I have the one skull I plan to euro mount and not ever planning on having one stuffed, I am just a just a food hunter.
Has anyone used the cheeks or any part of the head that I am missing, I also heard that the savory glan is what they make chorizo from? Any recommendations ?

 

[Milestone522]

Cachete de Cerdo

Crisp outside, tender inside...usually seasoned a little different than Carnitas. (But same pig!)

Delicious ! You live in the Inland Empire...go to any popular Taco truck or Taqueria down there...Pomona, Fontucky, Chino, Palm Springs, Barstow, Temecula, Riverside, or San Berdu....any good place should have it..try it. It should motivate you to save that section of pig meat and use it as well...

 

[Crowmangler]

Growing up we ate everything but the squeal

 

[lmeyer]

Pig jowels.. Aka face bacon

 

[caesAR15]

Pig jowels.. Aka face bacon

Pretty well echos my thoughts. I just got a book on charcuterie here's what it says about jowls...

Hope this helps. OP needs to make some face bacon and start a thread on it

 

[Wapiti1]

Jowl bacon is my fav. It also is, IMO, better for several of the high fat cured meats. Off wild hogs, its a lot different, though. Prepared more like carnitas is better for the wild version. Or slow cooked with chilis and tomatillos.

Jeremy

 

[Wvroach]

Never ate the jowls off wild hog, can't imagine much is there. The ones I've killed were pretty lean, no belly fat or backfat hardly any rib meat on a 200 plus sow either.

I raise pigs on my farm and yes as stated above everything but the squeal. So much you can do with a pig to hide even the not so pleasant tasting parts (organ meat). The jowls trotters and tongue smoked are some of my favorite parts that many people just toss away.

 

[Red Letters]

this came up on my feed a couple weeks ago

 

[Squincher]

I thought pig cheeks was just a fancy name for ham.

 

[Opah]

Great will give it ago next week, should have a couple pigs to play with.

 

[Lowg08]

The cheek meat is the best. Slow smoke a skinned head over night and oh man.

 

[Opah]

I thing I will De-skull it

 

[inyago]

Roast the whole head and if you want to hasten the process split it open length wise.
They are a great feed much much better than they look.

 

[butcherboy]

Pig jowls are fantastic! I would cure it, smoke, and slice for bacon or use as small pieces for beans. It’s the seasoning that makes the chorizo, not the particular area of meat. I use the trim meat that usually turns into breakfast sausage. Make the chorizo the same way but with chorizo seasoning.

 

[KClark]

Mmmm.... soused hogs face.

 

[MTtrout]

Pig jowls are awesome! I’ve made deer sausage from it once that I got at the local butcher. My folks used to put on a pig roast every year and only the cooks got cracks at the jowl meat first.

@caesAR15 thats a great book. I make 20lbs of the breakfast sausage every year with game. The ginger really makes it!

 

[boom]

i had Chinese Char Sui with pork cheeks.

i actually felt it was TOO rich tasting.

 

[NB7]

Growing up we ate everything but the squeal

Dang right. One word...Scrapple

 

[Wapiti1]

Never ate the jowls off wild hog, can't imagine much is there. The ones I've killed were pretty lean, no belly fat or backfat hardly any rib meat on a 200 plus sow either.

I raise pigs on my farm and yes as stated above everything but the squeal. So much you can do with a pig to hide even the not so pleasant tasting parts (organ meat). The jowls trotters and tongue smoked are some of my favorite parts that many people just toss away.

You're right, there isn't a lot on the smaller hogs. Feral are not bad, but russian mix have lean cheeks. The bigger ones, like >250lbs, have a large enough slab to do something with.

Jeremy

 

[Opah]

Now are these something I can Cut off and throw on the BBQ with some Mesquite smoking chips for 2/3 hours and have something great !
Or do I need to cure them with the rest of the meat?