When shopping, most people tend to focus on buying pork belly, pork loin, or pork butt. Additionally, they also have a special preference for spare ribs.
However, on a pig, there is a piece of meat that is only about 200g. It is worth noting that this meat is one of the best parts of pork, with a delicious taste and significant nutritional value, comparable to thousand-year ginseng.
Things to note when buying pork cheeks
This pork cheek meat is scarce, so if you want to buy it, you need to go to the market early or even inform the seller in advance to ensure you can buy it. Especially, when choosing to buy, there are some important points you should note:
The surface of the pork cheek meat should be dry and not damp. If you feel that the meat is moist, it may have been injected with water or frozen.
The color of the meat should be bright, with a pinkish red color and no signs of blackening.
The meat should not have a strange odor, should not be watery, and it should also retain its elasticity.
What is delicious to cook with pork cheeks?
Pork cheeks have soft tendons and layers of fat interspersed within each layer of meat, so it is not tough, fibrous, or dry. On the contrary, it is extremely tender. If you have bought pork cheeks, you can make many delicious dishes from it.
However, boiling or steaming often preserves the natural sweetness of the meat better. One of the simplest dishes is braised pork cheeks, and you can refer to the recipe to make this dish and enjoy it with your family.
Braised pork cheeks with quail eggs
To make this dish, you apply a recipe that is not much different from the usual way of braising meat. After buying the meat, you wash it with salt water, and for the quail eggs, you boil them and peel them. Before braising, you marinate the meat with fish sauce, salt, sugar, MSG, shallots, and chopped chili.
When braising, you add the colored water, then stir-fry the marinated meat and add coconut water to make the meat naturally sweet. Finally, add the quail eggs, and it is done. This braised pork cheeks dish is not only not greasy like regular fat meat but also tender thanks to the combination of tendons and meat.
Stir-fried pork cheeks with vegetables
Many people also stir-fry pork cheeks with vegetables, which has a unique and delicious taste and is compared to the tenderloin of beef. You can stir-fry pork cheeks with vegetables such as bell peppers, Dutch beans, baby corn, etc. The sweet and fragrant taste of fresh vegetables, combined with tender meat fibers, ensures that no one can resist.
Grilled pork cheeks
If regular meat gets dry and tough when grilled, but pork cheeks absorb spices deeply and cook tenderly. To save time, you can use a marinade packet for grilled meat. When cooking, you can grill with various types of vegetables to make a small BBQ party.