Beef Cheeks ~ A Saturday Treat

[thirdeye]

When I was a little boy in South Texas, barbacoa was one of the Mexican dishes that was a special tradition. My earliest recollection of barbacoa de cabeza, or beef-head barbacoa, was prepared at a neighboring ranch. They had a permanent earth oven, basically a hole in the ground on one end of a concrete patio. The seasoned heads were covered in wet corn husks then placed in burlap bags, and buried with layers of coals and dirt and cooked for 20+ hours.

Fast forward about 60 years... I buy beef cheeks at Sam's Club, smoke them for about 3 hours, then use a two-step pressure finish for a total of 45 minutes. Here is the end result.

Beef cheeks look rough coming out of the package, they are a fatty meat surrounded by thick sections of fat and silver skin, so I trim them. This is after trimming.

My injection is a jazzy beef broth and I seasoned this batch with cracked pepper and Goldee's brisket rub.

I kept the smoke on the lighter side because I was using B&B mesquite lump charcoal.

This is 3 hours in, ready for the pressure cooker.

I put all these pieces in my pressure cooker along with 2 pints of liquid for 30 minutes, then removed all the smaller pieces, and processed the large pieces for 15 minutes more.

I forgot to get any photos of the pressure finished meat, but it was so tender it was difficult to remove the pieces from the pot. When shredding, I use the back of a knife to scrape away any gelatinous areas.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Cachete de res (beef cheeks) done barbacoa is off the charts good. Tacos, burritos or just standard plate fare with beans and tortillas and don’t forget some kind of Chile, as in sauce or salsa or pico.

I saw what you were doing in the other post and I now have cheeks in my smoker getting happy. Making some frijoles con chicos too. Thanks for the inspiration.

My father would slaughter beef and skin the head then roast it in the oven. Low and slow. The meat fell off the bone and went right into a fresh warm tortilla with red or green Chile. So dang delicious.

 

[pc farmer]

Dang. Wish I could get them at my Sam's club

 

[chopsaw]

Fantastic . Looks really good .

I put all these pieces in my pressure cooker along with 2 pints of liquid for 30 minutes,

I keep that in my back pocket , and use it a lot since you posted that pastrami finish a while back .
I just did a chuck , smoked then crock pot the next day . So good . Great technique , and my go to method now .

 

[thirdeye]

Cachete de res (beef cheeks) done barbacoa is off the charts good. Tacos, burritos or just standard plate fare with beans and tortillas and don’t forget some kind of Chile, as in sauce or salsa or pico.

I saw what you were doing in the other post and I now have cheeks in my smoker getting happy. Making some frijoles con chicos too. Thanks for the inspiration.

My father would slaughter beef and skin the head then roast it in the oven. Low and slow. The meat fell off the bone and went right into a fresh warm tortilla with red or green Chile. So dang delicious.

Along for the ride . Please follow up.

 

[bmudd14474]

looks great. I hear grinding the cheeks and using for taco meet is great

 

[thirdeye]

Fantastic . Looks really good .

I keep that in my back pocket , and use it a lot since you posted that pastrami finish a while back .
I just did a chuck , smoked then crock pot the next day . So good . Great technique , and my go to method now .

Thanks for the kind words, it means a lot. I prep a chuck so when it hits the pressure cooker, it is a good finish.

 

[crazymoon]

TE, Looks delicious and something that isn't readily available in my neck of the woods.

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

Love those and you did them justice! Been a while but seemed like they where a pain to prep.

 

[thirdeye]

Love those and you did them justice! Been a while but seemed like they where a pain to prep.

You are correct, I should have weighed the amount of fat and sinew I trimmed off. Some folks will trim the obvious fatty areas, then cook, and do the final clean-up when they shred the meat

 

[SmokinEdge]

You are correct, I should have weighed the amount of fat and sinew I trimmed off. Some folks will trim the obvious fatty areas, then cook, and do the final clean-up when they shred the meat

I made some last night to eat with my Chico beans. I did like always and just trimmed excess season and cook. I separate what I don’t want after they are fall apart. That way all the flavor is in there. Cheapest beef you can buy and probably one of the most flavorful too.