Ok, I’m not going to lie – I was pretty scared when these whole pork cheeks (also known as pork jowl) arrived from Swaledale Butchers a few weeks back. For a start, they’re huge! Further, there is very little online on how to cook them, with the focus very much on the neater pork cheek medallions which are cut away from the larger pork jowl.
When Swaledale Butchers asked if I’d like to order some products to try at home and of course I jumped at the chance. Swaledale Butchers specialise in heritage and native breeds, raised on small sustainable farms in Yorkshire. What’s more, their meat is butchered to order and never frozen.
As we’re headed into autumn and the temperatures are dropping, I decided to go for hearty cuts including diced mutton, pork belly (more on those later) and these whole pork cheeks. Swaledale Butchers have an offal selection available on their site as well as the more usual chicken, sausages, bacon and meat joints. Often, these items are cheaper and just as tasty but require a bit more planning and cooking.
Whole pork cheeks
Coming face to face with a whole pork cheek is pretty intimidating to an amateur home cook like me but I promise you, it’s worth the effort. After doing a hefty amount of internet research, I decided to slow cook ours in a rich sherry / stock mix until it was so tender it fell apart. The smell filled the house all day long and by the time dinner time rolled around, we were so excited to tuck in!
Ingredients
- 1kg whole pork cheeks
- 500ml vegetable stock
- 150ml sherry of your choice
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 onion thickly sliced
- 2 large carrots, sliced in rounds
- 1 tsp Paprika
- Salt and pepper to season
- Plain flour
Method
Pork:
- Dust the whole pork cheek in flour and brown on all sides in a large frying pan.
- Remove from pan and leave to one side.
- Fry the carrots and onions in the pork fat until soft. Add the paprika, season with salt and pepper and add the sherry. Allow it to bubble away for a few minutes.
- Turn your slow cooker to high. Add the pork cheek and the contents of your pan, along with the stock and bay leaves.
- Pop the lid on and set timer for 5 hours.
Once cooked, the pork cheek will be really soft and falling apart. Lift it from the slow cooker and put it on a large board or plate. This is the messy bit as you’ll need to shred the meat away from the fat. There will be lots of fat but don’t let this put you off, it’s worth the effort. Discard the fat and you’ll be left with really soft, tender and flavourful meat.
Gravy:
- Depending on how much gravy you like, put three or four ladles of the cooking liquid into a saucepan, along with the carrots and onions.
- Simmer on a medium-high heat for around 10 mins to start reducing the liquid down.
- Stir in the cornflour mix and stir until it thickens. Add more depending on how thick you like your gravy.
- Season to taste.
Serve with creamy buttery mash and peas. Delicious and perfect for this colder days.
Online butchers
I was really impressed with Swaledale. Our order arrived well packaged and nice and cold. The meat is fresh
*I was gifted £50 credit for Swaledale Butchers to spend online on whatever cuts of meat I wanted. I was asked to write a blog post but given no instruction beyond cook something with one of the items in the order. I also chose diced mutton, pork belly, lamb shanks and streaky bacon all of which I’m excited to try soon. All opinions are my own.*
