Culinary Experiment: Thai-Inspired Braised Beef Cheeks

This is going to be a quick post. Mostly I just want to capture what I did so I can tweak it next time.

Ingredients

• oil
• ~1 lb beef cheeks (~1 large cheek)
• 1/2 lb turnips, in 1/2″ chunks (baby spring turnips preferred)
• 1/2 lb carrots, in 1/2″ chunks
• 4 baby leeks, whites parts only, well-cleaned & in 1″ chunks
• 6 kumquats, sliced crosswise into ~4 bits (seeds removed)
• 3 Tbl tomato paste
• 2″ chunk of fresh ginger, peeled and smashed somewhat
• 5 cloves garlic, smashed slightly
• 1 stalk lemongrass, dry part removed, in 2″ chunks
• ~5 star anise
• 1 lg sprig fresh thyme
• 8 whole hot red peppers
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups chicken stock (homemade preferred)

Method

• Heat oil to shimmering. Then brown the beef cheek very well on both sides. Remove it from the pan and set aside.
• Pour off the oil to 1 Tbl remains. Add smashed ginger and allow to brown well (move very little in the pan). Remove the ginger & place w/other ingredients (it’s coming back).
• Add tomato paste, cook for ~3min.
• Add beef cheek back to the pot, then all the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.
• Simmer for ~4hr.
• Remove beef cheek, thyme stems, ginger, lemongrass, star anise, whole red peppers. Discard all EXCEPT the beef.
• Turn pot to high and reduce by at least half.
• When cooled, pull the beef cheek into bite-sized bits.
• When the sauce is reduced, season to taste w/salt and add the beef back. Cook until heated through.
• Serve over starch of your choice. I chose fresh pappardelle.

Corrections for next time

• Overall: Very good! But it needs better balance.
• Reduce kumquats by 1 or 2.
• Reduce red peppers by half. I like heat, but I prefer balance.
• I think the ginger could use a good blackening (broiler?) rather than a mere browning. It’d add a nice depth.