# Pork cheeks



## red robbo 69 (Aug 22, 2015)

Saw a few in the butchers yesterday and thought they might be interesting. Most of the recipes I found said to treat them like ribs, so:

2 hours at around 250f with a couple of chunks of apple wood, then foiled with a splash of cider and in for another hour, and then basted with bbq sauce and in for a final hour.













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__ red robbo 69
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__ red robbo 69
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__ red robbo 69
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Just a little appetiser before the main event (beer can chicken, and nobody needs to see another photo of beer can chicken, right?). They were lovely; smoky moist and porky. My only complaint was the sauce. Normally I have some homemade knocking around. Today I had run out; I bought some Sweet Baby Rays after seeing some rave reviews on other sites. I thought it was awful; all I could taste was liquid smoke (though it mellowed a bit after an hour's cooking). Anyway next time, lots more pork cheeks and no sweet baby rays.

Cheers

Robin


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## kiska95 (Aug 23, 2015)

Hi

They are a great choice so are beef cheeks if you can get your hands on them Unctuous the word is

Try Stubbs BBQ sauce I think its better. As a bit of an experiment for yourself try equal measures of Stubbs, Franks Hot Sauce, and Sriracha Sauce. You can then do what The Negative One showed us at the SMF weekend, heat the sauce and then add knobs of butter to round out the flavour. Great!


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## red robbo 69 (Aug 23, 2015)

Hi Kiska,

Thanks for that, I've had my eye on beef cheeks for a while now, unfortunately the OH is a confirmed red meat avoider, so I'll either have to wait until I'm on my own, or have friends coming round who will eat civilised food. 

The combination of Stubbs, Franks and Sriracha looks interesting, I have the Franks and Sriracha, so I might give it a whirl. I think for the time being though I will stick to homemade. I go through so much of it these days it doesn't get a chance to go off (and it's cheaper). My particular favourites are amazingribs KC sauce and S Carolina mustard sauce and Pitt Cue's house sauce. I'm also getting into Alabama white BBQ sauce which is served with chicken. I'll look up the recipe I use and post it on the sticky. 

Cheers

Robin


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## smokin monkey (Aug 23, 2015)

Hi Robin, we cook pigs every weekend for events, and we always have the Cheeks, soft a tender. Never had them with sauce before, just straigh off the pig.


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## red robbo 69 (Aug 23, 2015)

Hi SM,

I think that sounds the way to go. I'm no purist and am happy to smother with sauce when I feel like it, but I think I did the meat a disservice saucing it (though that may be the Sweet Baby Rays, I can still taste it now)


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## kiska95 (Aug 24, 2015)

Hi The beef cheeks are not huge so at less than a fiver should be Ok for a meal for one. To be honest I don't like sauces on Beef just Wings & Ribs


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## sotv (Aug 6, 2017)

I was in Morrisons yesterday getting a couple of racks of baby back ribs to smoke today and they had some pork cheeks next to them so picked a pack of 5 up for £2.00

I had never cooked them before so just used some of the rib rub on them and left them overnight. Put them on with the ribs and just left them, just spraying some mop on them, when I did the ribs, so they ended up getting a 7 hour cook at 225F then covered them with some of the sticky sauce used on the ribs and cooked them off over the dying embers and they were really nice 2 - 3 bite size pieces of meat for each cheek. The colour of the meat was a deep red inside the bark (red velvet cake colour)  but still really moist and melt in the mouth after a 7 hour cook.

I really enjoyed them but will just cook them plain next time as I think the meat will just shine on its own through without any need for rubs or sauces.I think the meat was so red due to a very long lasting piece of apple wood that took 3 hours to smoke itself out. But it certainly didn't impair the flavour of the meat if this was the cause.


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