Wagyu Beef Cheek Carnitas

It's been quite some time since I've had beef cheeks and even longer since I've made them. I was delighted to find some fullblood Wagyu beef cheeks and curious to see if the extra marbling would make any difference.  They are definitely pretty cuts of meat.

They were marinated in a blend of adobo seasoning, garlic and onion powder, worcestershire sauce, granulated beef broth and olive oil for two days.

Fermented black garlic was finely mashed into a paste and the cheeks were thoroughly coated before being placed on the Egg at 235F with oak wood chunks.

After 3 hours, they were probing at 163F where they hit a bit of a brief lull. The bark that had developed at that point was substantial.

Thinking everything was moving along nicely, I prepared the refried black beans by adding beef broth and letting them reduce by two-thirds on the Egg.

Two hours later, the beef cheeks were probing at 195.  Yet, despite being about 10-15 degrees away from when they should be fall apart tender, they still felt like oddly shaped rubber hockey pucks.

Some extrapolation of the braising technique would be needed to get the desired texture, so I vacuum sealed them and finished the cook using the sous vide method at 170F for 24 hours.

While the final hour was winding down for the cheeks, previously rendered beef bacon fat was used to make beef bacon fat flour tortillas.

Time was up.  Perfection.

I made the usual mistake of taking a small taste. It's a miracle any actually made it into the planned dish.  Sweet onions were caramelized and fresh cilantro was prepped.

Time to dig in.

This beef cut naturally brings its own level of unami, but the coating of fermented black garlic added some serious depth to that wonderful fifth taste. The Wagyu aspect was very noticeable. The collagen breaks down and adds a rich, sticky feel to the meat, but the additional fat that rendered into the meat kicked all of that into high gear.  Adding beef broth to the black beans and cooking them on the Egg made the beans taste like they were seasoned with beef bacon. Needless to say, I made quick work of that plate of food.

Because I found the meat to be so rich, I had some remaining for leftovers.

Made some quesadillas.

And the obligatory nachos.

Buena comida.