Recipe No 256 stew Original 2013 Adapted 2013

Sous vide braised beef cheeks

There have been lots of discussions on eGullet about sous vide beef cheeks. It has been difficult to find a time and temperature which really suits this lovely cut of meat. Simon Lewinson has had success with this recipe and shared it with the community.

Adapted from Simon Lewinson on eGullet

Time

Prep:

Total:

Difficulty
easy
Yield
6 serves • 3000 g
Special equipment
sous vide
Metric Imperial

Processes

  • Olive oil
    40 g
  1. 01
    Heat in a cast iron pan over high heat.

  • Beef cheeks, trimmed, sinew and silver skin removed (6 cheeks)
    3000 g
  1. 02
    Add to pan.
  2. 03
    Leave the meat in one place in the pan until golden brown on one side only, about .
  3. 04
    Remove from pan. Set aside.

  • Olive oil
    40 g
  1. 05
    Add to pan and heat.

  • Carrots, roughly chopped (3 medium)
    180 g
  • Garlic, minced (2 cloves)
    6 g
  • Brown onion, sliced (1 medium)
    110 g
  1. 06
    Add to pan and sauté until well browned, about .

  • Medium sherry (500 milliliter / 1/2 quart)
    500 g
  • Red wine (500 milliliter / 1/2 quart)
    500 g
  • Bay leaves (3 leaves)
    2 g
  • Thyme (1 tbsp)
    2.5 g
  • Rosemary (3 small sprigs)
    2.5 g
  1. 07
    Add to pan and simmer to reduce the liquid to 200 g / 7 oz.
  2. 08
    Vacuum seal the beef cheeks in pairs with equal amounts of the reduced sauce.
  3. 09
    Sous vide at 81°C / 178°F for .
  4. 10
    Remove cheeks from bag. Reserve bag juices.
  5. 11
    Reduce juices to a glaze. Strain through a fine sieve and return to pan.

  • Salt (4 tsp)
    20 g
  1. 12
    Season the sauce.
  2. 13
    Gently toss the reserved beef cheeks in the sauce to bring to serving temperature. Be careful not to overheat them.

Notes

We’ve made some small changes to Simon’s original recipe. Very minor ones.

Following Kenji Lopez-Alt’s research on Serious Eats Food Lab into effects of browning meat before braising, we develop colour on one side of the meat only.

Following Dave Arnold’s tests on the effects of salting meat before long cooking times sous vide, we add our salt to the sauce at the last moment.

(Thanks to Marco for picking up an error in the salt quantity, which has now been fixed.)

Food pairings

Silky mash potatoes

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Categorisation

Category
braise stew
Meal
dinner
Cuisine
international
Diet
carnivorous omnivorous
Tags
beef cheeks braised slow cooking sous vide