Pork Cheeks

[hambone1990]

Greetings D.R. world, just want to give a little preview of some new dishes at Vidalia. BBQ Braised Pork Cheeks with buttermilk fried oyster, pickled jalapenos, spiced peanuts, cheddar grits, and bulb onions.....Seared Foie Gras with lemon marmalade, apricot ice cream, spiced pecans, parsnip butter, and brioche......and last but not least.. Herb and Dijon Crusted Halibut, with tete de cochon, beech mushrooms, pea puree, pickled rhubarb, and marjoram jus.....so please stop by the Onion and tell me what you think. And there quite a bit more delectable choices to choose from.

[drsmoke]

Pork Cheek, best part of the Hog! It all sounds fantastic, Chef!

[DonRocks]

Greetings D.R. world, just want to give a little preview of some new dishes at Vidalia. BBQ Braised Pork Cheeks with buttermilk fried oyster, pickled jalapenos, spiced peanuts, cheddar grits, and bulb onions.....Seared Foie Gras with lemon marmalade, apricot ice cream, spiced pecans, parsnip butter, and brioche......and last but not least.. Herb and Dijon Crusted Halibut, with tete de cochon, beech mushrooms, pea puree, pickled rhubarb, and marjoram jus.....so please stop by the Onion and tell me what you think. And there quite a bit more delectable choices to choose from.

Did you use the "Georgia" font on purpose?

[zoramargolis]

I ordered braised pork cheeks when I dined at Luques in West Hollywood a few weeks ago. I posted a photo and a rave about the dish on my Facebook page, and someone at Facebook with a twisted sense of humor re-posted it onto the Jewish Cooking group page, which I subscribe to but had never previously been re-posted to. I got a lot of outraged scolding from the kosher police, who assumed wrongly that I had posted it there deliberately. They simply did not believe that someone or some algorithm of irony at Facebook could have done that, it had to have been me. Well, I might have when I was 14 years old, about the time I got kicked out of Hebrew school for misbehaving...

[DonRocks]

I also want to thank Hamilton for being the first person I've ever seen *not* to serve braised pork cheeks with mashed potatoes. (Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, but ....)

Question for cooks: I prefer my braised pork cheeks to have a bit of chew - dare I say, toothsome? Quite often, they arrive with a texture slightly closer to sweetbreads, i.e., fork-tender, which is fine, but it can get a little gelatinous in spirit towards the end of the plate (the portions are invariably large - pork jowls must be enormous). So, what makes the difference?

[zoramargolis]

I also want to thank Hamilton for being the first person I've ever seen *not* to serve braised pork cheeks with mashed potatoes. (Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, but ....)

Question for cooks: I prefer my braised pork cheeks to have a bit of chew - dare I say, toothsome? Quite often, they arrive with a texture slightly closer to sweetbreads, i.e., fork-tender, which is fine, but it can get a little gelatinous in spirit towards the end of the plate (the portions are invariably large - pork jowls must be enormous). So, what makes the difference?

The pork cheeks at Luques were served with gnocchi.

Pork jowls are different than cheeks. Toothsome pork cheeks would be undercooked ones. The whole point of braising, which is the only method that renders pork cheeks edible, if not delicious, is to take a tough piece of muscle and make it tender.

[DonRocks]

The pork cheeks at Luques were served with gnocchi.

Pork jowls are different than cheeks. Toothsome pork cheeks would be undercooked ones. The whole point of braising, which is the only method that renders pork cheeks edible, if not delicious, is to take a tough piece of muscle and make it tender.

Yeah, I guess you're right. Maybe my problem is that the portions are often just too large, and I get weary of that texture towards the end of the course - serving them atop a mushy starch only seems to exacerbate the situation (Morou to the rescue with a North African diced cauliflower?)

In terms of pork jowls being different than cheeks, I defer to your cooking knowledge, but are you sure? I just threw that word in to vary my writing a bit, but it will bother me for days if I've made an error.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure I've ever had pork cheeks that weren't either braised or sous-vided.

[Justin Bittner]

You can make easy guanciale at home with pork cheeks, make a rub with 2 parts salt 1 part sugar, some chopped garlic chili flakes fresh thyme, rub it on good let it sit in your fridge for a week or so. At that point you can slice it thin and fry like bacon or wrap in cheese cloth and hang it in a cool spot( wine fridge if your fortunate enough) for 2 weeks.

[monavano]

I also want to thank Hamilton for being the first person I've ever seen *not* to serve braised pork cheeks with mashed potatoes. (Okay, I'm exaggerating a bit, but ....)

Question for cooks: I prefer my braised pork cheeks to have a bit of chew - dare I say, toothsome? Quite often, they arrive with a texture slightly closer to sweetbreads, i.e., fork-tender, which is fine, but it can get a little gelatinous in spirit towards the end of the plate (the portions are invariably large - pork jowls must be enormous). So, what makes the difference?

Don, do you mean that you'd prefer the cheeks more al dente, which is to say, to have some chew to them?

I ask because that's different from toothsome, but often gets used interchangeably.

Cheeks like any other tough cut should get braised until tender, but the degree of tenderness can be done from easy to cut, to falling apart, melting in the mouth.

I adore braises over starch (or nowadays a cauliflower puree), and think mashed potatoes would be way down on my list. Towards the top of the list would be polenta and risotto, and when it comes to potatoes, you can get more firm/al dente with a preparation such as Pommes Anna. A softer preparation could be Pommes Dauphinois, but that is way too rich under a rich braise for me.

Also, the addition of rabe or mustard greens to the plate can provide contrast in texture and taste, given their sharp flavors.

A plating that I adore is polenta topped with braised mustard greens/kale topped with the braise, topped with gremolata/nutmeg to "wake" everything up. The bite from top to bottom is perfection.