Smoked Ox Cheek greetings from sunny UK!

CriggyBites

Hi everyone, it's going to hit 90f today here in the UK! We can't take the heat, trains are running slow in case the tracks buckle in the heat!!! 

Anyway, I smoked some Ox cheek on the Egg over the weekend so thought I'd show you how it turned out.

Smothered in French's mustard, and "Memphis" rub from Stephen Raichlen's Barbecue! Bible. 



The egg is at 110c/225f with some hickory chips. Time to get smoking.


After about 6 hours I started mopping with BBQ sauce. The sauce I make has quite a bit of chipotle in, so the one without sauce is for my 8 year old daughter. My 10 year old daughter likes her spicy food.

I took them off after just over 7 hours, the internal temp was 90c/195f

They were springy to the touch, and as you can see below, not all the connective tissue had broken down. This made for an interesting texture, that I personally loved, as did everyone else who had them. However, I would probably braise them for a couple of hours in the oven and then smoke and glaze them to get the falling apart texture I was after. I was worried that leaving them on would dry them out. Any advice appreciated.

Served with a sauce made from horseradish and creme fraiche, more of the spicy smoky BBQ sauce, new potatoes, broccoli and fennel spiced pickled red cabbage. Definitely something I'll be trying again as the flavour was incredible. 

Let me know what you think. And any tips on getting the soft texture I was after would be great. 

Cheers!
Chris

TexanOfTheNorth

Interesting and looks good. How does the flavor/texture compare to beef?

That might be a good cut for sous vide.

CriggyBites

Flavour is very beefy, and the texture was like brisket, but I was after falling apart meat. Sous vide is a good shout.

IPASooner

Really interesting cook and it looks absolutely terrific! I did a braised boneless beef shoulder on my egg for about 8 hours in a dutch oven with fairly traditional red wine braise that turned out well (and also got that smoke flavor we are all after and the meat was definitely falling apart). May want to give that a try as well. Thanks for sharing!

CriggyBites

Thanks for that @IPASooner
I'm assuming you left the lid off the dutch oven? I'm new to the egg and am only just getting to grips with the versatility of it.

IPASooner

@CriggyBites actually had the lid open for the first hour or two and then put lid back on (cracked open but not totally off) for the rest...was worried too much smoke flavor would throw off the balance. Definitely wasn't a perfect dish by any means but it was an interesting technique to impart smoke while also breaking down the tougher cuts while not drying them out. Hope that helps! 

CriggyBites

Gotcha. Sounds like a plan. Will be giving that a go, and also sous vide the cheeks first. Many thanks

Theophan

I think you're a more accomplished cook than I, so take this with many grains of salt, but other meats (I've never even SEEN ox cheek, myself) with a lot of connective tissue (brisket, butt) are often chewy at 195f internal, but soft and wonderful at 200f or even quite a bit higher.  One of the cool things about the Egg is that meats tend to stay moist.  So before resorting to braising it, why not just take it to a higher internal temperature the way you would other similar meats?

And I'd think sous vide would be great for something you're not barbecuing, like a steak you want medium rare or rare.  But if the whole point of what you're doing is barbecue, and you're smoking it low and slow for great smoky barbecue flavor, I'd have thought sous vide would work against every bit of that, drastically reducing the amount of time the meat is actually in the smoky barbecue environment.

Again, I'm no expert, and your pictures wow me, so maybe I don't know what I'm talking about...  

caliking

Dude, this is another great cook.

As mentioned above, try taking it to 200-205°F or until it probes very soft (like a knife through room temp butter) and see if that works for you. 

I love beef cheek tacos. Luckily for me, they're easy to find over here

CriggyBites

Thanks @Theophan I will give it a go. You're right about sous vide as well. Hey, I'm a reasonably accomplished cook on standard equipment. The egg is still quite new over here so I will take every piece of advice I can get, so thank you.
@caliking It did still feel springy so will keep going until it's soft next time.

Cheers
Chris

gdenby

I like the sauce combo. Tart and tangy w. some heat. good choice.

I've done beef cheeks a couple of times. I would suppose there's not a lot of difference between those and ox cheeks.

I knew they had very complex structure with connective tissue running between the various layers of muscle. So I trimmed as much of the surface connective tissue away as I could. A few hours before cooking, fearing they would be too tough, I pierced them with a Jaccard tenderizer, and placed them in a little marinade of Worcestershire and a bit of dry red wine. Salted and peppered and then cooked cooked, raised, I think direct, till they were about 165F internal. Foiled each cheek with just a splash of the marinade, and cooked till about 190F internal. Unfoiled and reserved the juices. Cooked more till the outside was nicely browned, but not dry.

By the end, they had reduced in size to what would fit into a hamburger bun. So I poured the reserved juices on some toasted buns, added standard toppings, and served them as sandwiches. They were very succulent and tender.

I tried them once more following much the same procedure, and they were still a little chewy, so the method isn't fool proof, but worked well.

WeberWho

You've had some awesome cooks so far! I'm learning as your posting. Thanks!

CriggyBites

Thanks @gdenby I never thought of foil!!!! Another good tip gratefully taken on board. 
I suppose the best thing about things not turning out as expected is that you then need to try again. And again!!

Cheers
Chris