Braised beef cheek

Strangly, beef cheeks are considered offal or a lessor cut of meat for those unfamiliar with culinary lingo.

They do require a long, slow braise to make them palatable, yet it is well worth the effort.

Ingredients:

2 beef cheeks

2 medium carrots

2 medium brown onions

A couple of good-sized potatoes

1 litre beef stock

Sage

Seasoning

Method

I got my beef cheeks this time straight out of a steers head, but none the less, I still needed to trim excess sinue before sealing them.

Take one of your sharpest, thinest knife blades and wriggle it under the sinue, then guide the knife under the sinue in order to remove it, without taking too much meat off.

Fire up your frying pan as hot as you can get it, then add a little oil, season your meat and seal each side. Make sure you leave it down on either side for at least 3 to 4 minutes to get good colouration.

Top and tail your carrots, then cut to the desired shape. Peel your onions, then cut to the desired shape. Wash your potatoes and cut them to the desired shape.

Spread your vegetables across the bottom of your liped baking tray, place your sealed meat on top, chuck your sage on too and tip in your stock.

Cover loaded baking tray with grease proof paper and foil, and bake in the oven for 4-5 hours on 140c.

Once your timer is up, check your cheeks to see if they want to fall apart like melted butter. If they don’t, cover them again and give them another half an hour.

If they are falling apart, divide the vegetables up into a couple of bowls, drizzle the stock over, place a cheek into each bowl, and serve with some greens.

#Pickle pro tip: if you like a thicker sauce than the runny one pressented in this recipe, simply strain the juices of, thicken with corn starch and season with paprika or any other spice you might fancy.