Hot smoked pork cheeks recipe. How to smoke cheek meat at home. Making pork cheek roll

Smoked cheek The benefits of meat for the human body are not in doubt. The scientific and medical community believes that the presence of meat dishes in a person’s diet determines his health, strength and performance. In addition, one only needs to look at the history of our civilization to appreciate the importance of eating meat. Indeed, meat is a unique product that contains essential microelements, vitamins and nutritional compounds. And even the most ardent adherents of vegetarianism still cannot find an answer to the question “Is it possible to replace meat with something?” Historically, people have become accustomed to eating not only the meat parts of an animal carcass, but also offal. After the hunt, it was necessary to preserve as many parts of the killed animal as possible in order to feed a large family (or even a small tribal tribe) for a long time. Today, we also have not moved away from the tradition of preparing meat dishes from various parts of the animal’s body. Scientists have established the fact that some offal also contains a fairly large amount of useful microelements. That is why we advise you to purchase not only whole pieces of meat, but also sometimes spoil your family with dishes from other parts. The cheek is a typical offal. It is cut, as the name suggests, from the cheeks of livestock heads. The cheek of pigs is most often eaten. This choice is explained not only by the certain taste characteristics of the product, but also by the presence of microelements in its composition that have a beneficial effect on our health. True culinary experts assure that it is well-cooked cheek, incl. and smoked, can become a decoration for both everyday and festive tables. On average, 100 grams of finished product accounts for about 625-630 Kcal. This means that smoked cheek is not recommended for those who are watching their figure. But if you know when to stop and know how to stop in time, then such a dish may well be included in your menu. To get smoked cheek, you first need to cut the meat from the cheeks of a slaughtered animal. Next, the “raw materials” undergo a smoking process and are put on the table or sold. Several factors determine what the finished product will look like. Firstly, the fat layer of high-quality smoked pork cheek will be either pinkish or white (GOST insists on this). Secondly, the meat layer of the cheek is characterized by a pink-red color, tastes a little salty, and has a pleasant aroma. If the product was prepared according to all the rules, then its meat part will be as soft as possible (melting in the mouth). Smoked cheek can be served as an independent dish, or can be added to first courses, salads, and appetizers. There are several recipes where the cheek serves as the basis of an entire dish, for example, a side dish. Finally, the product can be used to make a good sauce.

Many people love the unique taste of pork head. And the cheek is one of the most delicious parts of the head!

Today we will prepare such a beautiful piece of cheek from a domestic pig. Since the piece is quite large (almost 2 kg), you can make two dishes from it at once: a baked roll and homemade sausage fried in the oven.

Making pork cheek roll

That half of the meat in the photo on the right will go to the roll. In addition to 1 kg of pork, we will need:

coarse salt – 7–8 g
garlic – 1 head
juniper – 10 berries
marjoram – 1 tsp. with a slide
allspice – 10 peas

Rub the cheek well with salt, sprinkle with marjoram, chopped garlic cloves, crushed juniper in a mortar and allspice. We put it in the refrigerator to salt for a day.

We roll the cheek into a roll and pull it as tightly as possible with a thick thread.

Place the cheek in a baking sleeve, cut side down, and place in the oven. Bake at 180°C for 1.5 hours.

At the end we get this delicious baked roll! Immediately cut off a piece to test while it’s hot, and leave the rest to cool.

Place the cooled roll in the refrigerator. We remove the threads only after it has completely hardened and become dense.

Making homemade cheek sausage

You can finely chop the pork with a knife, but it’s better to grind the cheeks in a meat grinder on a large wire rack - this will make the sausage more tender and better fried.

We twist the minced meat together with garlic, add salt, knead, and then season with spices. Seasoning options can be adjusted to suit your taste. This time it took 850–900 g of cheek:

coarse salt – 6–7 g
garlic – 1 head
spice mixture – 2 tsp.
ground nutmeg – 2 pinches
dried rosemary – 2 pinches
carnations – 3 buds
cognac – 50 ml
water – 80 ml

Having ground the cloves in a mortar, add them to the minced meat along with all the other spices (coriander, curry, basil, chili, hops-suneli, etc.).

Stir and add cognac.

Continue kneading, adding ice water little by little. Having received the desired consistency of the minced meat, we send it to ripen in the refrigerator for a day.

We take out the minced meat and stuff the intestines using a special attachment for a meat grinder.

If you don’t have a nozzle, you can stuff it like this:

Instead of a masher, you can simply push the minced meat with your hand, it’s even more convenient. The main thing is not to stuff the intestines too tightly - they may burst during frying.

Now we twist the resulting raw sausage (this one is more than 1.5 meters long) every 10–12 cm. We pierce each sausage 8–10 times with a thick needle.

Place the sausage in boiling water for 1 minute.

We take it out as soon as the intestines turn white. Place the sausage in a lightly greased frying pan and place in the oven.

Now bake at 200°C with convection turned on for about 35–40 minutes. If the meat is leaner, you can bake it for less time - be guided by the composition of the minced meat and the features of your oven.

The result is this beauty:

Great both hot and as a cold appetizer.

And to go with the roll and sausage – here’s some homemade wheat-rye bread!

Well, all this beauty now with mustard, horseradish, homemade adjika, and spicy ketchup!

Bon appetit!

Cheek is a special product consisting of alternating layers of meat and fat. It resembles a scone, but differs from it in being more juicy and tender when cooked. Thrifty housewives actively introduce pig cheek meat into their family’s diet. They boil it in brine and bake it, but the most popular is smoked cheek, which you can buy in a store or cook yourself. An affordable product (cheese is cheaper than lard, and, even more so, meat) takes its rightful place on the holiday table and increases the energy value of the daily menu.

If you have a smokehouse, then deliciously preparing smoked pork cheeks will not be difficult. You can treat guests and enjoy yourself. The highlight of the dish is the preliminary marinating of the product in garlic sauce.

Ingredients:

Pork cheeks - 1 kg;
Garlic - 4 cloves;
Salt - 120 grams;
Classic soy sauce - 40 grams;
Pepper mixture - 2-3 teaspoons.

Cooking method:

Wash the fresh cheek thoroughly and dry the product with a paper towel.
Divide the piece into 3-4 parts of 200-300 grams each (this way the lard will be smoked better).
Chop the peeled garlic in any convenient way (with a knife, grater or using a press).
Add salt, ground pepper, soy sauce to the garlic mass, mix everything well.
Now you need to spread the resulting mixture on all sides of the pieces of cheek. Then place the lard in a convenient container and leave it to marinate for several days (three to five) in the refrigerator on the bottom shelf.
Remove the pieces of lard and leave them hanging for a day in a well-ventilated room. This stage is necessary so that the product has time to dry and slightly wilt.
Thoroughly clean the cheek of salt and spices.
Direct smoking - this procedure depends on the model of your smokehouse. Pieces of lard can be tied with twine and hung from the top of the structure or laid out on a wire rack.
Place sand on the bottom of the smokehouse or cover the bottom with foil (so that the dripping fat does not burn).
Light a fire under the structure using wood from fruit trees. You can also use alder, oak or juniper wood.
Smoking lasts 30-40 minutes. Then leave the lard in the fresh air for about an hour or two.

Calorie content and composition of the dish

The composition of 100 grams of smoked pork cheeks includes:

Proteins - 9 grams.
Fats - 66 grams.
Carbohydrates - 0.5 grams.

This product contains a lot of useful substances, vital microelements (calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, iodine and others), antioxidants and fat-soluble vitamins (E, PP). There is an opinion that when consuming lard, the brain more actively produces serotonin - the “happiness hormone”.

Of course, lard cannot be called a dietary food. For people losing weight who count the calorie content of their dishes, smoked cheek is contraindicated. The offal is not suitable for those who suffer from gastrointestinal diseases. But, if you are relatively healthy and do not complain about being overweight, be sure to eat the cheek.

We must admit that smoked cheek is the most delicious, but not the healthiest product. Raw salted lard will bring much more benefits to the body. But you still shouldn’t refuse the opportunity to enjoy smoked meats. This relatively inexpensive product is indispensable in the diet of people engaged in physical labor. In addition, if you do not want to quickly and strongly get drunk during a feast with strong alcoholic drinks, eat cheek as a snack.

Smoked cheek is good with horseradish, spicy mustard or adjika. They make sandwiches with it. The delicacy product is also added to salads, soups, and sauces.

Calorie content and composition of the dish

The composition of 100 grams of smoked pork cheeks includes:

Proteins - 9 grams.
Fats - 66 grams.
Carbohydrates - 0.5 grams.

This product contains a lot of useful substances, vital microelements (calcium, potassium, phosphorus, iron, iodine and others), antioxidants and fat-soluble vitamins (E, PP). There is an opinion that when consuming lard, the brain more actively produces serotonin - the “happiness hormone”.

Benefits and harms

Smoked cheek is good with horseradish, spicy mustard or adjika. They make sandwiches with it. The delicacy product is also added to salads, soups, and sauces.

How to store smoked cheeks

But properly prepared smoked cheek is still most delicious when slightly chilled (the temperature of a regular refrigerator is quite enough). Therefore, you should not buy excess smoked meat.

Now you know how to smoke cheek meat at home. The proposed recipes are not the “ultimate truth”. If you have experience in smoking jowls, share with readers in the comments.

On the eve of the Easter holidays, I wanted to diversify my diet. I saw fresh pork cheeks on sale and got an idea on how to cook them deliciously. I want to say right away that this recipe is not strictly for Easter. You can cook pork cheeks this way all year round, whenever you want. I just like to buy boiled pork, smoked meats and other unhealthy goodies for Easter. Therefore, I look closely and plan everything in advance.

Why I like the cheek, I won’t hide, is the price. This cut is half the price of brisket or pork chops. And when prepared correctly, the taste is practically not inferior to them. The cheek is a part of the pig's head, many people don't even know what it is or what it tastes like. So, jowl is essentially pork cheeks. This is lard on the skin with layers of meat. It is best to boil or bake the cheeks, as with regular salting they turn out to be very tough.

Therefore, today I will share a recipe for cooking pork cheek in the oven. Lard prepared in this way looks like smoked lard (due to cooking in onion peels), and tastes almost like boiled pork, but with lard.

Products for cooking pork cheek in the oven

Pork cheek – 0.5 kg
Onion peel - 1 large handful (from 6 onions);
Bay leaf - 1 tablespoon;
Ground coriander - 1 teaspoon;
Rosemary - 1 teaspoon;
Tarragon (tarragon) - 1 teaspoon;
Sweet peas - 10 pcs.
Salt - 3 tablespoons;
Water - 1.5 liters.

Recipe for cooking pork cheek in the oven

First, let's get some onion skins. You don't need as much of it as you think. I only had 6 onions and I removed one top layer from each.

As for spices, you can use the ones you like. I prepared bay leaf (the most broken of the pack), ground coriander, rosemary, tarragon and allspice. You can add more spices; if you like it spicier, you can replace them with others.

The onion peels must be thoroughly washed under running water to remove all the dirt and soil and placed in a saucepan. Fill the husk with clean water and add all the spices and salt there.

Place the pan with the husks and spices on the stove and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, thoroughly rinse the pork cheek under running cold water. I had a piece weighing 0.5 kg.

When the water with the husks boils, put the lard in a saucepan so that the water completely covers it and bring it to a boil again. Now you can reduce the heat to low and cook with the lid ajar for 1 hour. During the cooking process, you can turn the lard in the pan upside down or skin down a couple of times to ensure even coloring.

After an hour, carefully remove the boiled cheek from the pan and peel off any stuck husks and spices. At this stage, you can stuff or rub with garlic. But this time I didn't do it.

Wrap in foil and place in the oven for 10 minutes at 250 degrees.

After 10 minutes, take the lard out of the oven, open the foil on top and put it back in the oven for another 15 minutes, reducing the temperature to 220 degrees.

After the time has passed, remove our dish from the oven and let it cool completely at room temperature. In principle, it is already ready and the first samples can be taken. But I like it frozen from the refrigerator (cut thinner and easier).