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 (with smoke and/or curing salt). As a cured and smoked meat in America it is called jowl bacon or, especially in the Southern United States, hog jowl, joe bacon or joe meat. In the US, hog jowl is a staple of soul food,[1] and there is a longer culinary tradition outside the United States; the cured non-smoked Italian variant is called guanciale.[2][3] | ||||||