Veal cheek was my meat of choice. Since it is a tougher cut of meat the best method to cook the veal cheeks would be to braise them because they are so tough. I decided to braise the cheek.
Once I cleaned up the veal cheeks I place them into a bowl with 1 cup of red wine, 1 cup of madeira, ½ cup of onions, ½ cup of celery, ½ tablespoon of garlic, bay leaves, rosemary and peppercorns. Once the meat was covering the meat, I covered the bowl and placed it in the fridge overnight.
I then preheated the oven to 275*F. Then I placed a rondeau on the stove and began to heat oil on a high heat until it was almost smoking. Then I took the meat from the bowl and patted it dry then seasoned on both sides with salt and pepper. I then went on to sear the meat in the oil until all sides were browned.
Then I began to brown the mirepoix until they began to caramelize. Then I added garlic and the marinate to the mix and added some more wine and madeira. Then I continued to bring it to a boil. Once it came to a boil I added water, tomato paste, essence and Italian seasoning. Then returned it to a boil. Then I added the meat and any of the juices that were with it into the mix and covered it tight and placed it into the oven and cooked them for about 4-5 hours.
They came out of the oven and they were just delightful. I have never tasted meat so good. I really enjoyed this recipe. It made the veal cheeks nice and tender and full of flavour.
Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures as I was making this dish.
The reason I chose this cooking method is because for a tough piece of meat like the veal cheek you need to braise it and cook it slowly so that the muscle becomes tender instead of becoming even tougher.
