Ox cheek help, please
Discussion
Having inspected the thing at close quarters, it looks like a tough old mofo.
Obviously one for the slow cooker, question is whether to brown it in a pan first for the 'browned meat' flavours?
Or just bung it in the slow cooker on a trivet of root veg with a good glug of Chateau Cardboard and hope for the best?
TVMIA
Obviously one for the slow cooker, question is whether to brown it in a pan first for the 'browned meat' flavours?
Or just bung it in the slow cooker on a trivet of root veg with a good glug of Chateau Cardboard and hope for the best?
TVMIA
21TonyK said:
I'd brown before slow cooking just to help the juices but for taste browning afterwards would probably be just as good.
Good call.I have browned it in goose fat, then into the slow cooker where it's smelling loudly and beefily.
Will report back whether it 'works'. If so, at £4.49 a Kg (at Surrey Waitrose prices) it's a no-brainer.
ETA: Could work rather nicely if diced / minced for chilli.
Edited by Mobile Chicane on Wednesday 16th February 09:35
I've cooked with these a couple of times - First was a Jason Atherton (12hr red wine marinade 4ish hrs in the pot) Recipe the second was a spanish Pedro Ximénez based verison.
Both were good but the Sherry one was too sweet for me (poss change variety) and both browned the cheeks first.
I think the crux is cooking time, the longer the better imho.
Both were good but the Sherry one was too sweet for me (poss change variety) and both browned the cheeks first.
I think the crux is cooking time, the longer the better imho.
Gah! Overcooked it. Six hours was enough.
Fell apart in the carving, hence no pics. (However it tasted fantastic.)
I'm a convert. I can see ox cheek being a worthy addition to chilli, bolognese and any kind of daube henceforth. The main reason being the amount of connective tissue in the meat, since this adds body and substance to a stew.
At £4.49 / Kg it's a no-brainer. (Although I'm sure most people who buy ox cheek around here feed it to the dog.)
Fell apart in the carving, hence no pics. (However it tasted fantastic.)
I'm a convert. I can see ox cheek being a worthy addition to chilli, bolognese and any kind of daube henceforth. The main reason being the amount of connective tissue in the meat, since this adds body and substance to a stew.
At £4.49 / Kg it's a no-brainer. (Although I'm sure most people who buy ox cheek around here feed it to the dog.)
21TonyK said:
Being down South Waitrose has just hit us although I seriously suspect they have no clue about ox cheek. I'll have a word with my friendly butcher and get some to try it. A Chili sounds ideal.
Next batch, I'm going to mince.Mincing by hand in a 'Hackfleisch' is chuffing hard work, but cheek is about the same price / Kg as ready-minced beef, and moreover I'll know what's in it.
(Not lips and a
holes.) I bought another one (it's gone up to £4.99/Kg) and since there was only one left, I've decided to augment it with lots of veg in a chilli.
From bottom left: 6 cloves garlic, 4 chopped chillies, 2 teaspoons chilli powder, 1 teaspoon turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon each of black peppercorns, cumin, coriander, plus the 'Trinity' (which is 4 or so onions, plus equal amounts of celery and peppers).
Vegetables 'sweating', ox cheek minced with a teaspoon of thyme mixed in, whole spices roasted and ground:
Final volume of sweated veg (the garlic went in at the end) - note it's 1/3 of the volume I started with:
I've fried off the minced cheek in a block and bunged it in the slow cooker with a can each of chopped tomatoes and kidney beans, plus a splash of red wine (the rest went in the cook).
It's 'doing' for later.
From bottom left: 6 cloves garlic, 4 chopped chillies, 2 teaspoons chilli powder, 1 teaspoon turmeric, 1/2 teaspoon each of black peppercorns, cumin, coriander, plus the 'Trinity' (which is 4 or so onions, plus equal amounts of celery and peppers).
Vegetables 'sweating', ox cheek minced with a teaspoon of thyme mixed in, whole spices roasted and ground:
Final volume of sweated veg (the garlic went in at the end) - note it's 1/3 of the volume I started with:
I've fried off the minced cheek in a block and bunged it in the slow cooker with a can each of chopped tomatoes and kidney beans, plus a splash of red wine (the rest went in the cook).
It's 'doing' for later.
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