Pork, fresh, variety meats and by-products, jowl, raw

Pork jowl is the cheek meat of the pig, a streaky cut layered with fat much like belly, but with a firmer bite once cooked. Raw jowl is most often cured and dry-aged into guanciale, the Italian ingredient behind carbonara and amatriciana, or simply sliced and pan-fried like bacon for breakfast. The rendered fat that comes off jowl while it cooks is prized on its own, used to cook greens, beans, or eggs with a deep, savory backbone. Raw jowl itself is not something eaten as-is; it needs curing, smoking, or slow rendering to turn the fat and connective tissue into something tender and flavorful.

When buying jowl fresh from a butcher, keep it refrigerated and use it within three to five days, or wrap and freeze it for longer storage. Rendering is done low and slow in a skillet so the fat melts out gradually and the meat crisps rather than burns. The raw numbers explain why it behaves the way it does in the kitchen: 655 calories and 69.6 grams of fat per 100 grams make it one of the richest cuts on the animal, so a little goes a long way as a flavoring fat rather than a main protein source. Its 6.38 grams of protein per 100 grams (13% DV) is secondary to its role seasoning pasta sauces, braised greens, or a pot of beans with rendered fat and crisp bits.