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Got some black cod cheeks in the freezer for later. One of my customers owns a fishing boat.

Not always smoked. My grandmother made green beans with potatoes and what she called hog jowls, and the meat was not smoked. From the description here I’m sure they were pork cheeks. Some times it was kale or collards instead of green beans.

Grew up with smoked hog jowls or smoked ham hocks cooked in dried beans and/or black eyed peas. Recently got some hocks on sale that were not smoked and cooked similarly. Just not the same.

When I was a kid, both jowls and hocks were very inexpensive (staples for southern poor/soul food). Not so much these days. Pricey as pro chops here now.

The hipsters are exposing the world to these body parts and sadly, they will go up in price.

Per pound, one the costliest parts of the hog is probably its ears.
Pet stores sell them like crazy.

Must be like chicken wings....decades ago hey were unloved....now they're quite proud of them any you pay. The BBQ joint I was at today only does shoulders (Lexington style)...but sells 15-1800 lbs every single day....I reckon that's more than a few jowls that get shipped somewhere....southerners might be dumb, but we ain't stupid ;)

Exactly! Found a great recipe in a Fortnum and Mason cookbook. The soak overnight does a lot to change the flavor. Without the soak, the cheeks can have a little aftertaste that my husband does not like.