Ox Cheeks 2 x 400g

A recently revived classic cut made popular by our chef community and for very good reason. Ox* cheeks make for a rich, satisfying braise, full of natural collagen. Ox cheeks are meltingly tender when slowly cooked, producing a texture you can cut with a spoon and exceptional depth of flavour.

Chef Valentine Warner inspires:
"A king of among braising cuts and not only is beef cheek (ox) delicious and unctuous but has a gluey, soft fibrousness that is so pleasingly toothsome. Almost impossible to ruin (except for burning) the longer it cooks and the more tender and giving it becomes. A long cook while easy is very necessary though as anything less than tender is frankly table-side wrestling.

Chopped in large chunks for a chilli con carne, a little coffee and cocoa powder added into the rich gravy of chillies, tomatoes, spices and apple cider vinegar and this is my go to cut for this often lazy but otherwise delicious Latin beef stew.

In pies it goes well with oysters and stout but perhaps best of all is either slow-cooked with red wine, anchovies, basil, garlic and tomatoes in a ragù served with parmesan polenta and gremolata or braised in red wine with lardons and a little tomato for something more French in feel.

All in all this increasingly popular cut, while requiring patience, is utterly delicious.

It is also a good bedfellow for stews or thick broths with roots such as swede and turnip and also pearl barley."

*All Swaledale beef is heritage breed and raised on independent farms and smallholdings dotted around the wildly beautiful Yorkshire Dales. Slow grown and free to roam on the swath of green hills and valleys; the result is exceptional tasting beef with an umami taste - rich, dense and flavourful.