Pork jowl

Pork jowl is a cut of pork from a pig's cheek. Different food traditions have used it as a fresh cut or as a cured pork product . As a cured and smoked meat in America it is called jowl bacon or, especially in the Southern United States, hog jowl or "joe meat". In the US, hog jowl is a staple of soul food, and there is a longer culinary tradition outside the United States: the cured non-smoked Italian variant is called guanciale.