Sous vide braised beef cheeks

Adapted from Simon Lewinson on eGullet

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.

Time

9 hours 30 minutes total: 30 minutes attended, 9 hours unattended

Difficulty

easy

Special requirements

sous vide

Yield

3000 g (servings 6 )

Ingredients

Weight

Volume

Procedure

Olive oil

40 g

21 tbsp

Heat in a cast iron pan over high heat.

Beef cheeks, trimmed, sinew and silver skin removed

3000 g

6 cheeks

Add to pan.

Leave the meat in one place in the pan until golden brown on one side only, about 1 minute.

Remove from pan. Set aside.

Olive oil

40 g

21 tbsp

Add to pan and heat.

Carrots, roughly chopped

180 g

3 medium

Garlic, minced

6 g

2 cloves

Brown onion, sliced

110 g

1 medium

Add to pan and sauté until well browned, about 12 minutes.

Medium sherry

500 g

500 ml / ½ quart

Red wine

500 g

500 ml / ½ quart

Bay leaves

2 g

3 leaves

Thyme

2.5 g

3 tsp

Rosemary

2.5 g

3 small sprigs

Add to pan and simmer to reduce the liquid to 200 g.

Vacuum seal the beef cheeks C in pairs with equal amounts of the reduced sauce.

Sous vide at 81°C / 178°F for 9 hours.

Remove cheeks from bag. Reserve bag juices.

Reduce juices to a glaze. Strain through a fine sieve and return to pan.

Salt

20 g

4 tsp

Season the sauce.

Gently toss the reserved beef cheeks in the sauce to bring to serving temperature. Be careful not to overheat them.

Original: 2013. Adapted: 2013.

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

Nutrition

Serving size 500 g; calories 810.1 kcal, kilojoules 3392.2 kJ, protein 111.2 g, carbohydrates 7.8 g, sugar 2.7 g, fat 30.9 g, saturated fat 9.9 g, unsaturated fat 35 g, trans fat 1.1 g, fiber 0.9 g, cholesterol 349.1 mg,

Type stew

Author bhsimon

Yield

Servings

Serving size 500 g

Serve	Per serve
Energy (kcal)	810.1
Energy (kJ)	3392.2
Protein (g)	111.2
Fat (g)	30.9
Carbs (g)	7.8
Sugars (g)	2.7
Fiber (g)	0.9
Sodium (mg)	253
Cholesterol (mg)	349.1

Full details