Ox cheek is the cheapest serious cut in the shop and it turns to silk after four hours. It does need something at the end, because a long braise flattens everything into one deep brown note. Italian Chilli Oil is a drizzle, so it soaks into the meat and the mash instead of sitting on top, and the Calabrian chilli and garlic cut back through the stout.
4 hrs. Serves 4.
Ingredients
- 1.2kg Ox cheeks, trimmed
- 500ml Stout
- 500ml Beef stock
- 2 Onions, sliced
- 3 Carrots, thick coins
- Thyme and bay, a small bundle
- 2 tbsp Plateit Italian Chilli Oil
- Mashed potato, to serve, 1kg worth
Method
- Salt the cheeks well. Brown them hard in a heavy pot, one at a time, until properly dark. Out onto a plate.
- Onions and carrots into the same fat, 10 mins until soft and catching.
- Stout in, scrape the base, boil 5 mins to lose the raw edge. Stock, herbs, cheeks and any juices back in.
- Lid on, oven at 150C, 3 hrs 30 mins. It is ready when a spoon goes through without argument.
- Lift the cheeks out, boil the liquid down by half. Cheeks on mash, sauce over, then 2 tbsp of Plateit Italian Chilli Oil drizzled across the lot at the table.
Make ahead: Better the next day. Cool it in the liquid, lift the set fat off, reheat gently.
