While pork cheeks are a favorite around our house – especially with my daughter – none of us had tried ox cheeks before before my butcher recommended me to give them a try.
If by now you feel a bit scared by the thought of eating cheeks, please continue reading. I really want you to give up that irrational fear and try this tender piece of meat. Take it from a former picky eater. You’ll love it!
Neither pork cheeks nor ox cheeks are regular cuts in my country but I find it so important that we eat the whole animal and not just the muscle meat available in the supermarket. From snout to tail as they say- only I don’t know if oxes have snouts or it that’s only a pork thing. None the less…
In Denmark, ox cheeks are a bit more rare to get your hands on than pork cheeks but I have a very good and reliable organic butcher who can get me almost anything. Ox cheeks are for some reason cheaper than pork cheeks. I found them to be equally delicious though so that’s a win-win.
Preparing a dish of slow cooked ox cheeks (or pork for that matter) is so easy. And you won’t believe how tender the meat is!
Have I convinced you yet? I hope so!
SERVES 4 PERSONS
- 4 ox cheeks
- 2 roughly chopped onions
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 0,5 liter of bone broth (preferably homemade)
- 1 cup (2 dl) of heavy cream
- salt, pepper and fresh or dried thyme
- butter or coconut oil for browning the meat
DIRECTIONS
2. Heat up butter or coconut oil in a large pot. Brown the ox cheeks one ny one and put them on a plate on the side.
3. Add a bit extra fat to the pot if necessary. Now stir fry garlic and onion for a little while. Place the ox cheeks back in the pot and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Add bone broth and cream and thyme. Put a lid on the pot and let it simmer at low heat for about 3 hours.
4. After the 3 hours, carefully fish up the ox cheeks and set them aside. Drain the sauce in a strainer till it’s lump free and put the sauce back in the pot. Add some extra cream if you like and bring the sauce gently to boil. Let it simmer until it’s nice and creamy. Put back the ox cheeks in the sauce and allow them to reheat in the sauce.
We had this nice winter meal on a warm summer day so I just served some raw pointed cabbage as side dish. That worked well as a bed under the delicious and tasty sauce.
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