In keeping with our ethos of whole carcass butchery, we are delighted to offer you a full, rind-on pork* cheek to enjoy. Many butchers or restaurants will just serve you the lean medallion of cheek meat known as the oyster muscle - but not us! We are excited for you to try a full cheek, skin-on with a higher fat content, it is a totally different eating experience.
Pork cheek is a traditional ingredient that is highly regarded amongst our community of chefs. It is thanks to its deep flavour and melting, succulent qualities, that pork cheek will never be out of favour.
This culinary delight is ideal for slow-cooking, be it with pulses and wine for a hearty braise, or in the oven for crisp skin with meltingly tender meat beneath.
Swaledale sources the best pork that’s farmed on the Yorkshire Dales; Middle White and Tamworth pigs that have been reared outside and grown at their own pace. The pork is then dry-aged in house, as we believe this results in the very best pork possible.
Chef Val Warner inspires:
"Until recently I’d always braised pork cheek with delicious results, but then I discovered roasting the cheek to a faint pink within, and found it to be incredibly delicious when sliced thinly.
Try roasting and slicing and laying on a Puy lentil vinaigrette, or perhaps laying on-top of a noodle soup, embellished with half a soft boiled egg, shiitake mushrooms, crispy onions, spring onions and sesame seeds.
Braised with Jerusalem artichokes and clams makes for a most wonderful surf and turf or alternatively cook slowly with smoked bacon lardons, apple and cider."
Do we sell just the oyster muscle?
No, due to our whole carcass ethos, and mission to not waste an ounce of flavoursome meat, our pork cheek is a full cheek. The oyster muscle, roughly the size of a squash ball, is just the lean area of the cheek visible in the above image. A full cheek is rather different with a higher fat content and skin-on. A full cheek is approximately the size of a hand, a full palm plus outstretched fingers. One cheek is a very generous single portion but can easily feed two.
*Tamworth and Middle White pigs are reared outside where they can root around, wallow and exhibit all of their instinctive behaviours. They're matured at their own pace which enables the fat to naturally marble the meat, and gives the pork a superior texture. To maximise the naturally occurring flavour, all our native breed pork is dry-aged on the bone for 3-weeks in our Himalayan salt chamber; this further enhances the rich and distinctive flavour. Swaledale Whole Pork Cheeks are Always Fresh Never Frozen®, butchered to order, vacuum packed, and shipped in recyclable packaging to arrive safely insulated and ready to enjoy.
