Beef cheeks method?

TheToast

Hey everyone. I’m having a bbq with friends at the weekend and plan to do beef cheeks. I’m told they’re a bit like mini brisket - thought they’d be great sliced or pulled and put in buns. 

I like the look of this method but any thoughts / advice? I may wrap them after a few hours - I generally find I get better results with similar meats. Thanks in advance
https://jesspryles.com/recipe/smoked-beef-cheeks/

The Cen-Tex Smoker

They do better with a little braise than just a straight smoke. The best I have had (and they were probably better than most brisket I have ever had) were smoked 4 hours then cooked confit in beef fat in the smoke for another 4. Pulled out of the fat and put back in the smoker at the end to get a little more smoke and firm up the bark. A braise and Then smoke or braise-y smoke like the travis brisket method would be a good way to do them if you don’t have 5lbs of beef fat lying around. 

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Here are the confit cheeks I had. These were at a Meat Church bbq class done by Evan LeRoy of LeRoy and Lewis here in Austin. He does beef cheeks every day and brisket Saturday only

TheToast

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

They do better with a little braise than just a straight smoke. The best I have had (and they were probably better than most brisket I have ever had) were smoked 4 hours then cooked confit in beef fat in the smoke for another 4. Pulled out of the fat and put back in the smoker at the end to get a little more smoke and firm up the bark. A braise and Then smoke or braise-y smoke like the travis brisket method would be a good way to do them if you don’t have 5lbs of beef fat lying around. 

Thanks. And looks good! Do you have a link to the Travis method? I googled but couldn’t find the actual recipe. Thanks

The Cen-Tex Smoker

TheToast said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

They do better with a little braise than just a straight smoke. The best I have had (and they were probably better than most brisket I have ever had) were smoked 4 hours then cooked confit in beef fat in the smoke for another 4. Pulled out of the fat and put back in the smoker at the end to get a little more smoke and firm up the bark. A braise and Then smoke or braise-y smoke like the travis brisket method would be a good way to do them if you don’t have 5lbs of beef fat lying around. 

Thanks. And looks good! Do you have a link to the Travis method? I googled but couldn’t find the actual recipe. Thanks

Oh boy....here you go. BTW- this thread is a legendary thread and and inside all at the same time but it's actually a great way to do stuff like you are doing. you don't have to use the same liquid he does- anything from water to beef broth to beer will work just fine

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1138233/brisket-how-i-do-it/p1

CPFC1905

TheToast said:

Hey everyone. I’m having a bbq with friends at the weekend and plan to do beef cheeks. I’m told they’re a bit like mini brisket - thought they’d be great sliced or pulled and put in buns. 

I like the look of this method but any thoughts / advice? I may wrap them after a few hours - I generally find I get better results with similar meats. Thanks in advance
https://jesspryles.com/recipe/smoked-beef-cheeks/

Very much looking forward to the pics you post this weekend 

TheToast

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

TheToast said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

They do better with a little braise than just a straight smoke. The best I have had (and they were probably better than most brisket I have ever had) were smoked 4 hours then cooked confit in beef fat in the smoke for another 4. Pulled out of the fat and put back in the smoker at the end to get a little more smoke and firm up the bark. A braise and Then smoke or braise-y smoke like the travis brisket method would be a good way to do them if you don’t have 5lbs of beef fat lying around. 

Thanks. And looks good! Do you have a link to the Travis method? I googled but couldn’t find the actual recipe. Thanks

Oh boy....here you go. BTW- this thread is a legendary thread and and inside all at the same time but it's actually a great way to do stuff like you are doing. you don't have to use the same liquid he does- anything from water to beef broth to beer will work just fine

https://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1138233/brisket-how-i-do-it/p1

Amazing. Thank you. I’ve never actually cooked brisket in the maybe 6yrs of BGE ownership. It’s hard to source the correct cut in the UK and I don’t often cook for big groups to make it worthwhile. 

Shame the photos on that post are dead links now. I may try my own hybrid of these - smoking them on a grill then transferring to a pan for that method - I have until Saturday to work that out. Will post update and pics!

The Cen-Tex Smoker

I meant to say legendary and an "inside joke" all at the same time. This thread has taken on a life of its own over the years but it's still just a smoky braise at the end of the day. can't wait to see how these turn out.