I have been eating beef cheeks for years now, but upon thinking about it, I have never seen them sold anywhere? Is this just a cute name for butt? ANd where in the area can I get some cheeK?

Too many easy jokes... It is actually the cheek (as in face) of the cow. This seems to be more of a restaurant cut that isn't much available to the general public. There's some here, though.

Well, cheeks ain't arse and butt ain't arse. Cheeks is facial muscles and butt is shoulder muscle. Go figure.

Did you notice how they are calling sliced lamb shanks "lamb osso buco" and sliced pork hocks "pork osso buco"? I hadn't seen that before. A way to latch onto the trendy coattails of veal, as it were, and send the price of those lowly cuts into the stratosphere. Jeez, I remember in the 1980's when I could get veal shank for $1.99 a pound at Golden West Meats in Santa Monica and osso buco was a frequent dish on our table. Now, it's so expensive I do it only once or twice a season, for old times' sake.

Seriously, does anyone have any good recipes for beef cheeks. I think I am going to order the beefcheeks from the above website.
After tasing the cheeks at Corduroys, I want to make something similar. Does anyone have any idea what they use in their recipe and theier method of cooking, (besides slow)?
Thanks all.

As you can probably guess from how much these muscles are used, they are pretty tough. This points to a long, slow braise. Flavor with some earthy components, veal stock, shrooms, etc.

Beef cheeks would be awesome done Sous Vide.

Fifteen pounds of frozen beef cheeks is a huge amount of meat. If it's too much for you, I'd be interested in sharing the cost for a portion of it...

As will I.

I had veal cheek at Maestro Saturday night, and the earth moved when I ate it!

I don't see any recipes for cheeks specifically in Molly Stevens' book, but I think a nice, slow, low braise would be just the thing.

Um, maybe Chef Pangaud would shed light on this on his thread.

In my experience, Chef Power is very forthcoming with regard to his recipes. Send either Rissa or Ferhat a message and ask them if they could send you recipe.

I noticed that Montmartre had sheep cheeks on the menu this fall...I must run over and try

I tried sending Rissa a message, her box is full! Either that or she has blocked all PM's.

I'm seeing her tonight and I'll ask her then.

Bumping this up, as Niman Ranch doesn't have any beef cheeks, nor does D'Artagnan. Anyone know of a local source?

A little trade secret: pork cheeks are way tastier than beef or veal cheeks.

That's terrible! Imagine being born without cheeks!

Though I suppose it would make brushing your teeth and trips to the dentist easier.

Algebraic version: for any value of x, pork x is way tastier than beef x or veal x.

Anyone know of where to find them in the area? several queries at the Dupont Market left me with nothing but blank stares?

favorite preparations/recipes welcomed too!

You might make a special request for them at Organic Butcher of McLean. Maybe Union Meats at Eastern Market. But I doubt that there is any retail establishment where you can walk in and find them.

Ask Eco-Friendly at Courthouse/Dupont. You may have to special order, though, but (former) chef at Mio reported that's where he got them earlier this year.

Strange - i did ask eco-friendly at Dupont recently and they said they didn't have them. maybe i just spoke with the wrong person.

I imagine that restaurants get the limited amount that Bev has. He doesn't butcher a large number of animals, and there are only two cheeks per cow.

I actually bought some from a Dupont Farmer's market vendor about 6 weeks ago. I don't know the name, but it was the meat vendor nearest the metro escalator and the side where the guitar player hangs out most of the time. The vendor sells pork and beef, but mostly pork. Unfortunately, though, I only saw them on the board once. Good luck.

Pax,
Brian

Union Meats at Eastern Market told me that you "can't really get them" unless you want to buy a 60 pound box of them frozen.

www.fiveleaf.com. its where the big chefs get em from... sous-vide.....

Doesn't appear to be sous-vide as much as boil-n-bag. Not necessarily a bad idea, but not nearly the same as braising fresh beef cheeks (I've been monitoring the thread looking for veal cheeks, myself) at home.

closing the loop.

beef cheeks remain elusive.

went to eastern market having heard that pork cheeks (what the hell, it's still a cheek) can be found at canales. but alas, they were not fresh, but smoked.

on a whim, asked cedarbrook farms at dupont market today and they pulled a bag of frozen pork cheeks from the freezer (it's not listed on the board). still frozen, it looks like two parts fat to one part meat, not to mention the skin still attached. but after 2 weeks, i'm happy that i just found cheeks of any sort.

so now i've got this hunk o meat and need to figure out how best to cook it. i thought i'd do a cider braise. but a question, should i remove the skin prior to braising or just brown the whole lot, and remove post braise? i'm all for keeping the fat, but by the looks of it, this seems a bit much even for me?

So it's you that got the rest of the jowl supply I picked up the remaining two for guanciale-making today, clearly after your visit. As for cooking, I'd recommend either braise or confit, and probably would skin them beforehand, so you can crisp up the outer fat layer rather than crisping up something that doesn't necessarily get eaten. By the way, skinning them is much easier when still frozen. Hopefully you haven't started thawing already. It's a pain in the ass regardless.