Braised Ox Cheeks

⇐ The Green Book

I am a cheek man. Pork cheeks, cow, skate, doesn’t matter to me, its cheeks are the nuggets I most adore. They appeal to my lazy side, being easily portionable and neat, and they appeal to my Yorkshire side, being cheap. A skate’s cheeks are known as knobs, by the way, so if you encounter them on a restaurant menu or in your fishmonger, don’t be alarmed. You won’t be noshing anything priapic.

But I digress. This week it was ox cheeks. In the panoply of meat cuts they are among the finest – outrageously flavoursome, spectacularly gelatinous (and thus most gleefully slow-cooked), and extraordinarily handsome.

This recipe, which takes about 15 minutes of your time, will be the talk of the town, or at least your home, for many years to come.

Do this a day or two ahead if you like – the flavour will only improve – and serve with mashed potato or, as I did, celeriac and horseradish purée and a few greens.

Ingredients

for the marinade

2 ox cheeks, 1.5kg approximately

325ml of red wine

1 bay leaf

peppercorns, a few

1 garlic clove, squished

1 red chilli, dried

for the braise

50g of butter

1 large onion, peeled and chopped

1 stick of celery, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and diced

2 garlic cloves, peeled and sliced

300ml of beef stock, or chicken stock

1 tbsp of tomato purée

salt

pepper

oil

Method

1. Put the ox cheeks in a bowl with the other marinade ingredients and add a good pinch of salt. Leave for as long as you can – ideally in the fridge for a few days, but an hour is better than nothing
2. When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 160°C/gas mark 3
3. Remove the cheeks from the marinade and pat dry thoroughly. Heat a drop of oil (if using olive don’t use your best) in a frying pan over a strong flame and brown the cheeks thoroughly, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go. Transfer to a large saucepan
4. Lower the heat, add the butter and melt, then add the vegetables and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Soften for a few minutes then add to the saucepan with the ox cheeks
5. Tip the marinade into the frying pan along with the stock and bring to a simmer, scraping any sticky bits off the bottom of the pan. Tip this into the saucepan, cover, and transfer to the oven. Cook for 3-4 hours until tender
6. Remove the cheeks from the braising liquor and rest in a bowl. Put the saucepan over a generous heat, add the tomato purée and simmer to reduce by about a half
7. Meanwhile shred the cheeks with a couple of forks. Return to the pan and stir through the reduced broth. Keep warm until ready to serve, or cool and refrigerate until whenever needed

James Ramsden https://www.greatbritishchefs.com/recipes/braised-ox-cheeks-recipe