CarneAtlas
Cabeza de cerdo

Cabeza de cerdo substitutes

What to use when you can't find Cabeza de cerdo at your butcher

Cabeza de cerdo is the traditional name in Mexico. Outside that tradition, butchers carry comparable pork cuts under different names — sometimes the same anatomical piece, sometimes a close cousin. The alternatives below are grouped by country so you can match what your local butcher actually carries.

Mexico

Cabeza de resapproximate

Same conceptual cut on a different animal — beef head vs pork head. Both are nose-to-tail preparations that yield multiple sub-products (cheeks, tongue, jowl meat).

Italy

Guancialeapproximate

Guanciale is cured pork jowl, anatomically a subset of the head. The whole head as a cut is the parent category.

United Kingdom

Pork cheekapproximate

Anatomical subset — the cheek (cachete / carrillada / guancia) is part of the head, butchered out separately and sold as the most-prized portion.

← Full Cabeza de cerdo details

Discover one new cut every issue.

A regional cut, the dish that defines it, and a side-by-side comparison — straight to your inbox.

Free. Roughly monthly. No tracking pixels.