Beef
Smoked & Braised Beef Cheeks
Wild Fork beef cheeks with a mustard, pepper and Gospel bark, smoked five hours at 225°F with tallow, braised in beef broth until probe tender, then crisped back up at 275–300°F.
- Prep
- 20 minutes
- Cook
- 7½–8½ hours
- Total
- About 9 hours
- Yield
- 4–6 servings
- Method
- Smoke, then braise
- Wood
- Your choice
Ingredients
Instructions
- Trim the membrane off both sides of the cheeks.
- Coat with mustard, then season with coarse black pepper and The Gospel.
- Set your smoker to 225°F. Put a pan or Dutch oven of broth on the rack below the cheeks to catch drippings.
- Smoke for about 5 hours, brushing with heated tallow now and then, until the bark is very set.
- Move the cheeks into the broth and cover. Use just enough liquid to come partway up, or elevate them a little so the bark doesn't go mushy.
- Braise for 2–3 hours, until probe tender, around 205°F.
- Take the cheeks out of the braise, raise the smoker to 275–300°F and cook for another 20–30 minutes to firm the bark back up.
- Rest, slice and serve with some of the braising liquid.
Pitmaster Notes
- Cheeks shrink a lot. Plan on about half the raw weight once cooked.
- They're excellent in tacos with a little of the braising liquid.
- Don't braise in water. Use broth, or a mix of broth and tallow, to add flavor.
Times and temps are my starting points. Every cooker and every cut runs a little different, so cook to temperature and feel, not the clock.
From dkcraftbbq.com/recipe/smoked-beef-cheeks