Tender and juicy beef cheeks slow-cooked to perfection in a versatile deep skillet
Beef cheeks are a rich flavoured, wholesome, textually satisfying cut of meat often overlooked by the home cook. Beef cheeks are actually very simple to cook (even in a deep skillet), and being an inexpensive cut of meat, are perfect for a homecooked meal. Being a very hard-working muscle in the cow, beef cheeks are full of connective tissue that needs to be cooked low and slow to break it down. The result being a gelatinous, pull apart, full bodied flavour bomb of a dish.
Often, I cook beef cheeks in a slow cooker or in a cocotte on the stove top. When I laid eyes on the Essteele Per Domani deep covered skillet—the high sides of the pan and the fitted rubber sealed tempered glass lid made me determined to cook beef cheeks in it. The lid has a perfectly sized vent to release just enough steam keeping the lid secured and snug whilst withholding enough steam to slow cook your meat. These features really worked to produce perfectly tender, melt in your mouth beef cheeks. The diamond and titanium reinforced surface perfectly caramalized the meat to seal in maximum flavour.
Also, the cleverly designed thick, non-stick, quality surface means even with use on an induction cooktop there is no risk of burning your food. The even heat distribution that circulates from the high sided pan resulted in optimum flavour enhancement in the vegetables when cooking the mirepoix.
A mirepoix is the foundation of many casseroles, sauces, soups and stews. Traditionally a mirepoix was a staple cooking method in French cooking widely used in the 1800s. The method of using a mirepoix to sweeten and enhance the flavour of the entire dish is used worldwide in many cuisines to this day. Simply put, three vegetables are sautéed in oil or butter prior to building on the remainder of the recipe. A mirepoix is made up of carrot, onion and celery with ratio of 1:2:1 – 1 part celery, two parts onion and one part carrot. A mirepoix is the perfect starting point to a full flavoured slow braised beef cheek recipe.
There are many different options you can choose from as to what you will serve your beef cheeks with. I absolutely adore the sweetness and creaminess of a simple sweet potato mash. Regular potato mash or polenta is always a winner in my household too. If you are feeling creative or want to elevate your recipe into something fancier, the possibilities are endless. A silky celeriac or parsnip puree will result in a chef quality meal to impress. Beef cheeks are an extremely versatile cut of meat with many other entire recipe ideas available on the internet. Try beef cheek lasagne, pot pie ragu or ravioli. Once you get on the beef cheek train and are comfortable in cooking with them, you will never look back!
Beef Cheeks in Red Wine with Sweet Potato Mash Recipe
Ingredients
For the Beef Cheeks
- 2-3 beef cheeks
- 2 celery stalks
- 1 carrot
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 golden shallots
- 300ml red wine
- 800gm tinned tomatoes (two tins)
- 2 tbsp tomato paste
- 300ml beef stock
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 3 sprigs fresh oregano
- 2 bay leaves
- Olive oil
- Sea Salt and black pepper to taste
For the sweet potato mash:
- 1 large, sweet potato
- 4 large white potatoes
- 75gms unsalted butter
- ¼ cup milk
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Method
1. Remove any unwanted sinew from beef cheeks using a sharp knife (I'm using the Cromova 18 stainless steel knife by Global knives) season with sea salt and olive oil and set aside to room temperature.
2. Prepare the French Mirepoix by finely dicing the celery, carrot and shallots into equal size pieces.
3.Finely dice garlic and set aside.
4. Sear the beef cheeks on high heat in a deep sided pan that has a lid (such as the Essteele Per Domani Deep Covered Skillet 28cm) and set aside on a plate.
5. In the same pan (without washing), on a med-low heat add a glug of extra virgin olive oil and add the celery, carrot and shallots cooking until softened.
6. Add in the garlic stirring for a minute being careful not to burn.
7. Deglaze the pan by pouring in the red wine – reduce until the red wine has fully cooked out.
8. Stir the tinned tomato, tomato paste, stock, herb leaves and black pepper simmering for 5 minutes.
9.Submerge the beef cheeks into the liquid and add a sealed lid with a steam vent.
10. Simmer on a med to low heat for 3 hours or until beef can easily be pulled apart using a fork.
11. For the sweet potato mash, peel the sweet potato and potatoes and cut into 3x3cm pieces.
12. Submerge the potatoes in room temperature water into a saucepan
13. Boil the potatoes until soft, and you can easily penetrate them with a knife
14. Strain the water from the saucepan, add in the butter, milk salt and pepper.
15. Using a potato masher, mash until well combined
16. To serve, add a large spoonful of the sweet potato mash to each bowl, top with partially shredded beef cheeks and a good amount of the red wine and tomato sauce. As pictured below, I have plated up using the elegant Gio Gold soup bowls by Wedgewood paired with the Laguiole Debutant Cutlery set by Andre Verdier.
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