Ale Braised Ox Cheek

As you may have deduced, when an animal is slaughtered every part of it is butchered. Though this may appear, on the surface, to be a somewhat obvious and worthless statement, it does highlight potentially important ramifications. Remember, every popular cut of meat (leg of lamb) has a less-loved or even unknown counterpart (ox cheek, lamb neck or breast) – the meat that isn’t used gets wasted or goes under appreciated. This is a travesty on so many levels, not least because less popular cuts are often the most delicious and economical.

There are downsides to moving one’s focus over to cheap cuts – cooking time is generally higher and most wouldn’t consider them to have favourable aesthetic qualities (though I quite disagree). However, I shall continue to champion them, since lesser known cuts and little indulged in animals are key to food biodiversity; an important step on the road to sustainability in the food industry. Please, start treating less popular cuts of meat with the respect they deserve – surely it’s a form of bullying not to do so?

Though it’s best not to give one company too much praise (they’re not paying me, honestly), I have to congratulate Source on their wonderful ox cheeks. My tongue, nose and eyes were revelling in the sensory delight even before the meat was prepared – the smell of a good cut of beef is difficult to rival. If you’ve never tried ox cheek before I implore you to do so – the depth of flavour is incredible and works so well with a nice brown ale.

When preparing your ox cheek, do remember to remove the majority of its fat. To do this, cut away what you can and then slice between fat and meat, removing them from one another in the process. You’ll need a sharp knife, but it’s a fairly straightforward process and shouldn’t put you off one bit.

If you’re interested in other cheap cuts of meat why not try these delicious recipes? Apricot Stuffed Lamb Breast; Welsh Cawl; Beef Curry; Lamb with black olives.

Ale Braised Ox Cheek {recipe}

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 500g ox cheek, in chunks with fat removed

• 1 small leek or onion, finely chopped

• 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped

• 2 carrots, finely chopped

• 150g button mushrooms, quartered

• 1 clove of garlic, mashed

• 2 bay leaves

• 1 tbsp sage, thyme or rosemary

• 500ml brown ale, nothing fancy

• 100ml beef stock

• 30g butter

• 1 tbsp plain flour

• Olive oil

• Salt

• Pepper

Method:

1. Prepare the meat as per the instructions above. Begin gently frying the onion/leek, celery, carrot and garlic in olive oil using an oven-proof pan.

2. In a separate pan start to cook the mushrooms in a little olive oil. Once they have released most of their water tip in the beef, season and brown on all sides. Add this to the vegetables.

3. Pop in the bay leaves and herb of your choice, before adding the ale and stock. Make a basic roux by whisking the flour into melted butter, cook for a minute and then whisk into the main dish to thicken. Stick it in the oven at 150C for at least two hours, three is better, four is best. Serve with potato or bread and cabbage.

Cost: Ox cheek is currently around £6.50 per kilo, which makes this dish impressively frugal. Indeed, the entire confection, which will please one immensely, should set one back no more than around £5.80! Ox cheek heaven!