Ox cheeks braised in red wine with star anise and fennel
Ox cheeks braised in red wine with star anise and fennel
by BellisBlueday
2 Comments
BellisBlueday
Full disclosure, I made this in a Dutch oven rather than a slow cooker but it was slow cooked all the same – I have added some notes on adapting for a ‘crock pot’ type slow cooker at the end.
2 large Ox cheeks – I’m in the UK and bought these from Morrison’s, they have some really interesting cuts of meat in their butcher’s section. It ended up being about £2 for each ox cheek, they were the size of a decent sized steak
1 onion, roughly chopped
As many garlic cloves as you like, slice them, crush them or throw them in whole
A couple-three carrots, roughly chopped
Some celery, roughly chopped – about the same proportion as carrots
1 can of tomatoes
A decent dollop of tomato puree
Some red wine, maybe a couple of glasses worth
Beef stock – I use 1 oxo cube in 500ml water
2 or 3 bay leaves
2 or 3 star anise
Sprinkling of dried thyme or fresh if you have it
1 bulb chopped fennel (optional, I had it, so added it to complement the star anise)
Salt
Pepper
A decent dollop of brown miso (optional, I keep some in my fridge for general use and it adds more umami – I recommend keeping some on hand as a general condiment)
Oil of your choice for browning the Ox cheeks, I recommend rapeseed oil or something else with a high smoke point
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius
Season the Ox cheeks with salt and let them come up to room temperature, add some oil to the Dutch oven, bring up to a high/medium heat and brown the Ox cheeks – might take a couple of minutes each side
Remove the Ox cheeks and set aside
Add some more oil to the pan and add the onion, let it go for a minute or so and add a little salt to help draw out the water – turn the heat down if needed
Once the onion has softened a bit, add the garlic and after a minute or so add the celery, fennel (optional) and carrot
Cook until the vegetables (especially the carrot) look like they’re softening around the edges, 5 minutes or so
Add the wine (making sure to scrape any brown bits off the sides of the pot) allow to come back up to a simmer, then add the tomato and the tomato puree
After coming back up to a simmer add the miso paste (optional) and stir in
Add the Ox cheeks back to the pot
Add the beef stock until there’s enough liquid to mostly cover the ingredients – the Ox cheeks want to be sticking out just a little, reserve some stock for later
Pop in the star anise, bay leaves and thyme alone with as much fresh ground black pepper as you like Bring up to a simmer, then turn off the hob
The lid on the Dutch oven needs to have a bit of a gap to let out the steam so that the sauce can reduce – pop the lid on slightly skew-iffy so as to leave a crack, then pop it into the pre-heated oven
Depending on your oven, your mileage may vary! I recommend 3-4 hours, every hour take the pot out of the oven and give it a stir, adding more of the reserved beef stock as necessary if the sauce is reducing too much
When the time is up, test the meat – it should be easy to shred
Take the pot out of the oven, remove the meat and tear it into smaller chunks (use a couple of forks, or a fork and a knife) add the meat back into the pot once done
Fish out the star anise and bay leaves if you can find them (no worries if not)
Serve over your choice of sides. I recommend mashed potato with butter and some steamed greens, but rice or pasta would also work well
How to adapt this for a slow cooker
I have a ‘sear and stew’ slow cooker, the inner is made of non-stick metal and I can use it on a cooktop in much the same way as the recipe above describes. The Dutch oven serves to reduce the liquid in the stew, so I would do this at the start of the recipe by adding less liquid, or at the end of the recipe by removing the meat from the pan and reducing the sauce on the cooktop.
For traditional slow cookers, I would either use less liquid than indicated (use your judgement!) or swap the dish from pan to slow cooker to pan (minus the meat) to reduce the sauce, or add a thickening agent such as a roux if you don’t want to deal with more pans. I recommend browning the meat and softening the veg per the directions above before adding to the slow cooker, you don’t have to but it will give you a *much* better result.
Cook time – low for at least 8 hours.
pizzaparty84
Damn that looks tasty. Right up my alley! Mail me some!
2 Comments
Full disclosure, I made this in a Dutch oven rather than a slow cooker but it was slow cooked all the same – I have added some notes on adapting for a ‘crock pot’ type slow cooker at the end.
I wasn’t a specific recipe I followed, more of a mash-up of Gordon Ramsay ones for [beef cheek Pappardelle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaFlyFkZvM4), his slow cooked Ox cheeks recipe and a [Kenji Lopez Alt recipe for beef stew](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIdlVi-VzPY).
Ingredients
2 large Ox cheeks – I’m in the UK and bought these from Morrison’s, they have some really interesting cuts of meat in their butcher’s section. It ended up being about £2 for each ox cheek, they were the size of a decent sized steak
1 onion, roughly chopped
As many garlic cloves as you like, slice them, crush them or throw them in whole
A couple-three carrots, roughly chopped
Some celery, roughly chopped – about the same proportion as carrots
1 can of tomatoes
A decent dollop of tomato puree
Some red wine, maybe a couple of glasses worth
Beef stock – I use 1 oxo cube in 500ml water
2 or 3 bay leaves
2 or 3 star anise
Sprinkling of dried thyme or fresh if you have it
1 bulb chopped fennel (optional, I had it, so added it to complement the star anise)
Salt
Pepper
A decent dollop of brown miso (optional, I keep some in my fridge for general use and it adds more
umami – I recommend keeping some on hand as a general condiment)
Oil of your choice for browning the Ox cheeks, I recommend rapeseed oil or something else with a high smoke point
Method
Pre-heat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius
Season the Ox cheeks with salt and let them come up to room temperature, add some oil to the Dutch oven, bring up to a high/medium heat and brown the Ox cheeks – might take a couple of minutes each side
Remove the Ox cheeks and set aside
Add some more oil to the pan and add the onion, let it go for a minute or so and add a little salt to help draw out the water – turn the heat down if needed
Once the onion has softened a bit, add the garlic and after a minute or so add the celery, fennel (optional) and carrot
Cook until the vegetables (especially the carrot) look like they’re softening around the edges, 5 minutes or so
Add the wine (making sure to scrape any brown bits off the sides of the pot) allow to come back up to a simmer, then add the tomato and the tomato puree
After coming back up to a simmer add the miso paste (optional) and stir in
Add the Ox cheeks back to the pot
Add the beef stock until there’s enough liquid to mostly cover the ingredients – the Ox cheeks want to be sticking out just a little, reserve some stock for later
Pop in the star anise, bay leaves and thyme alone with as much fresh ground black pepper as you like
Bring up to a simmer, then turn off the hob
The lid on the Dutch oven needs to have a bit of a gap to let out the steam so that the sauce can reduce – pop the lid on slightly skew-iffy so as to leave a crack, then pop it into the pre-heated oven
Depending on your oven, your mileage may vary! I recommend 3-4 hours, every hour take the pot out of the oven and give it a stir, adding more of the reserved beef stock as necessary if the sauce is reducing too much
When the time is up, test the meat – it should be easy to shred
Take the pot out of the oven, remove the meat and tear it into smaller chunks (use a couple of forks, or a fork and a knife) add the meat back into the pot once done
Fish out the star anise and bay leaves if you can find them (no worries if not)
Serve over your choice of sides. I recommend mashed potato with butter and some steamed greens, but rice or pasta would also work well
How to adapt this for a slow cooker
I have a ‘sear and stew’ slow cooker, the inner is made of non-stick metal and I can use it on a cooktop in much the same way as the recipe above describes. The Dutch oven serves to reduce the liquid in the stew, so I would do this at the start of the recipe by adding less liquid, or at the end of the recipe by removing the meat from the pan and reducing the sauce on the cooktop.
For traditional slow cookers, I would either use less liquid than indicated (use your judgement!) or swap the dish from pan to slow cooker to pan (minus the meat) to reduce the sauce, or add a thickening agent such as a roux if you don’t want to deal with more pans. I recommend browning the meat and softening the veg per the directions above before adding to the slow cooker, you don’t have to but it will give you a *much* better result.
Cook time – low for at least 8 hours.
Damn that looks tasty. Right up my alley! Mail me some!