Beef cheeks in red wine sauce

Beef cheeks have become a speciality in recent years, but before that, due to its high fat content and the somewhat laborious method of butchering, it had fallen completely off the menu.

Beef cheeks are a classic stew. It takes about two hours until the pieces of meat are softly cooked. The gelatine in the meat ensures a natural thickening of the sauce.

I love stews

As you will notice, I love stews. There are several reasons for this, but one of the most important is that you can prepare the dish in advance in large quantities. This leaves time for family and friends. Also, it doesn't matter too much whether the meat is braised for 2 hours or 2 1/2 hours.

Good meat does not have to be expensive

As I keep pointing out, don't buy cheap meat. Meats for stews are usually the cheaper pieces anyway, so it is all the more important to buy good meat.

It is also important to fry the meat first. This gives the meat and thus the dish additional flavour.

Ingredients

1,2 kg beef cheeks

2 carrots

2 sticks of celery

2 large onions

3 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons tomato paste

400 ml red wine, dry

750 ml beef stock

2 bay leaves, dried or fresh

3 sprigs of thyme, alternatively 2 tablespoons dried

250 ml cream (heavy cream)

50 g butter

salt and pepper

Preparation

Dice the carrots, celery and onions.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Top and bottom heat or circulating air does not matter.

Heat the oil in a roaster and fry the beef in it for a few minutes on all sides. Remove and put aside.

Put the onions, carrot and celery cubes into the pot and fry for about 5 minutes.

Add the tomato paste and fry briefly. Deglaze with the red wine and let it boil down for a few minutes.

Pour the stock, add the thyme, bay leaves and meat into the roaster, stir and cover and cook in the oven for about 2 hours.

Then take out the meat and keep it warm.

Remove the bay leaves. Strain the sauce or puree it evenly with a blender and reduce if necessary. Season to taste with sugar, salt and pepper. You can now add sauce cream and butter to taste. Depending on the thickness of the sauce, either butter or cornflour must be added to the sauce.

Cut the meat into slices (against the fibre!) and place the pieces in the sauce.

Lower the oven to 70 degrees. Put the roaster back in the oven and keep the meat warm.