Small, dense and heavily collagenated — the same masseter as a beef cheek on a smaller animal, so it converts in ninety minutes rather than three hours. Cheap, and among the best braises in the shop.
Each cheek is a compact oval muscle of three to five ounces, taken from inside the jowl after the surrounding fat has been removed for guanciale. Constant chewing builds dense, fine-grained muscle bound by heavy connective tissue, with some intramuscular fat but far less than the jowl fat that surrounded it. There's a silverskin membrane on one side that should be trimmed. Two per animal. Because they're small, they cook considerably faster than any other collagen-heavy cut, which is the practical argument for them.
Very high collagen relative to size, so the same conversion applies as a beef cheek, but the small mass means heat reaches the centre quickly and the whole thing converts in ninety minutes to two hours rather than three-plus. There's enough intramuscular fat to keep them from drying, unlike beef cheeks, so they're a little more forgiving. The result is unusually gelatinous for pork — the braising liquid sets firmly when chilled — and the meat holds together in whole pieces rather than shredding, which makes them good for a plated dish rather than just a filling.
The Spanish carrillada treatment, and the classic — enough time for full collagen conversion with the liquid becoming a glossy sauce.
HowTrim silverskin, brown hard, then 300°F covered in red wine or oloroso sherry with aromatics, ninety minutes to two hours until a fork twists freely. Reduce the liquid hard into a glaze.
Their small even size means each cheek can be glazed whole and plated, which larger braising cuts can't.
HowBraise, then remove and reduce the liquid to a syrup, returning the cheeks to coat. Serve two or three per person on a purée.
Small pieces with high collagen convert very fast under pressure, making this a genuinely quick braise.
HowBrown, then twenty-five to thirty minutes at high pressure, natural release. Reduce afterwards.
Submerged in fat the collagen converts with no water leaching flavour out, and they keep for weeks.
HowSalt overnight, rinse, submerge in lard at 200-215°F for two hours. Cool in the fat. Crisp before serving.
The instinct is right about the method and wrong about the duration. A pork cheek is three to five ounces against a beef cheek's eight to twelve, on a much smaller and younger animal — the collagen concentration is comparable but the total mass is a fraction, so heat reaches the centre far faster and the conversion completes in ninety minutes to two hours. Give them a beef cheek's three and a half hours and the connective tissue has long since converted, and then the muscle fibers keep breaking down with nothing left to protect them: what comes out is stringy and falling to shreds rather than holding together in tender whole pieces, which is the whole appeal of the cut. Check at ninety minutes and stop as soon as a fork twists with no resistance.
Butchers who break whole hogs have them, though they're rarely in the case — ask. Spanish and Latin butchers carry them as carrillada. They should be trimmed of the surrounding jowl fat, deep pink and firm, with the silverskin visible on one side. Very cheap, since demand is low outside Spain and Latin America. Three to five ounces each, so figure two or three per person. Frozen is fine. If the shop only has whole jowls, the cheek is the compact muscle inside and can be cut out, with the fat kept for guanciale.
Doneness: 195-205°F internal over ninety minutes to two hours at 300°F, or twenty-five to thirty minutes under pressure. Judged by a fork twisting freely. Past two and a half hours they go stringy.
No dishes yet — this cut guide is new.
No, though they come from the same place. The jowl is the whole fatty pouch along the jaw, mostly fat, and it's what becomes guanciale. The cheek is the compact muscle inside it, trimmed of that fat. They're used completely differently — jowl is cured and rendered, cheek is braised. A butcher selling jowl may or may not have separated the cheek out.
Low demand outside Spain and Latin America, and the fact that they're small and fiddly to separate from the jowl. There are only two per animal, and where there's no established market they often go into sausage. Spanish butchers price them properly because carrillada is a standard dish; most others don't.
Two or three, depending on size and what else is on the plate. Each cheek is three to five ounces raw and loses some in cooking, so a portion is somewhere around six to ten ounces raw. They're rich enough that three is plenty with a purée and a sauce.