this hog cheek just came out from the crawl space under my house after hanging for two years. looks disgusting don't it? well after some clean up...
...it still looked pretty bad. not exactly sunday brunch material but curiosity got the best of me so i went for it. but i took some precautions...
like i'm not cooking that shit in my own kitchen. even bacon stinks up the whole house. two year old bacon from under the house? no way. up to the shop it goes. (a friend who likes old British motorcycles is temporarily using my shop and evidently the range is a necessary engine rebuild tool of his)
that's the 2 year old jowl frying up on the range back in the corner. and wow! no bad smells, just porky smells, crispy pork smells. i emphasize that all the nasty exterior yuckyness gets trimmed off before frying. (in the shop a razor blade works well for the final trim)
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almost done. in the end it tastes like bacon. just bacon-ier. small amounts go a long way. like i'd call guanciale the best bacon-bits on earth. the preservative i used was salt and sugar. lots of it over a 3 day period at cool room temperature in a plastic tub. once or twice a day i drained off the accumulated juices and refreshed with more salt/sugar.
more on raising hogs and charcuterie here
more on raising hogs and charcuterie here
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