Bacon comes from the belly of the pig. But, the smoked jowls make a more fatty type of bacon.
Here’s what a hunk of smoked jowls looks like (skin side up)
Fat side up
First step is carving the leathery hard skin off
Cross section reveals how much fattier the jowls are than bacon
Smoked jowls are chopped up into “lardons”, fancy shmanzy french cuisine term meaning thick matchsticks. Place lardons in cold pan.
Crank up the heat to high, and the lardons will start to render delicious smokey flavoured lard oil
Keep an eye on them until they get to the point where the lardons become delicious crispy matchsticks
Scoop out the matchsticks with a slotted spoon
These matchsticks are SOOOO delicious. Like eating mini fries, but better!
Use to sprinkle in salads, in omelettes, in sautéed veg…or snacking (purse bacon!)
The resultant smokey lard is delicious in cooking. It has a cleaner appearance and taste than bacon, because of the higher fat content in the jowls. This is the oil lard poured out from the pan into a storage container (very clean liquid).