Tender is the Meat

No, not rephrasing F. Scott Fitzgerald (Tender is the Night), but talking about the most tender meat dish I recall having.

I made a slow braised beef dish for my last tasting dinner, that used veal cheeks, which if you aren't familiar with them are really taken from the (front) cheeks of the animal.- veal rather than the older beef for this meal.

The secret is to marinate the meat in red wine overnight and the slow braise at 320 F. for three hours in a bath of red wine and herbs and spices (all but the meat is discarded before service).

The result is quite flavourful meat that you can literally eat with a spoon. A highly recommended technique.If you use veal you need two cheeks per diner, but the larger beef cheeks will serve one per person.

[Jenise]

I was lucky enough to be a guest at this dinner, and the meat was indeed spectacular (as were the wines and other courses). Cool that you had that huge Creuset that gave you the area needed to do 16 of those (portion size was two each).

I've only had veal cheeks once before in my whole life, and I've never seen them at retail. I presume you had to order these in advance from your source?

Spoonable meat sounds interesting... once.

I think I'm more of a ropa vieja guy.

Normally I would have ordered them from a local shop who could get them in for me, but they had a small fire and were closed for several weeks, so I had to look elsewhere. I found them in stock at Cioffi's, an interesting Italian market - they own the whole block but have IIRC four businesses in the block interspersed with tenants running other businesses. Not sure if there is anywhere else in the city that you could walk in and expect to leave with veal cheeks. If you haven't visited it you should try and explore them when you have the time.

Spoonable meat sounds interesting... once.

I think I'm more of a ropa vieja guy.

The meat still has texture, Jeff, it is just very, very tender. And as for ropa vieja, I understand that if you don't do it properly it can be a flankless task......

[Jenise]

Normally I would have ordered them from a local shop who could get them in for me, but they had a small fire and were closed for several weeks, so I had to look elsewhere. I found them in stock at Cioffi's, an interesting Italian market - they own the whole block but have IIRC four businesses in the block interspersed with tenants running other businesses. Not sure if there is anywhere else in the city that you could walk in and expect to leave with veal cheeks. If you haven't visited it you should try and explore them when you have the time.

Indeed I should.

SPEAKING OF BUYING MEAT IN CANADA, though, a month or so ago driving back home via 152nd and somehow craving a steak, Bob and I decided to drop in on Clancy's meats in White Rock, a shop we've been to many times but not recently (like maybe not in 7-8 years.) I remember in particular buying exemplary prime grade Alberta beef there, including an entire prime rib that I brought the fresh garlic paste for and they vacuum sealed for me so I could sous vide it. WELL MY HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED. There's almost no fresh meat. It's all frozen, pre-made, take-and-heat food. Who's buying this stuff? Where are the real cooks??