Beef cheeks are one of the most underrated cuts of meat you will ever cook, and once you try them this way, you’ll understand why I love this dish so much.
This is a classic slow-cooked recipe inspired by Northern Italy, especially the Piemonte region, where rich sauces, butter, and long cooking times are part of everyday cooking. It’s the kind of dish that turns simple ingredients into something truly special, and it’s all about patience and flavour.
If you love beef that falls apart, melts in your mouth, and fills the kitchen with incredible aroma, this recipe is for you.
💯 Follow this link to read and print the written recipe:
https://www.vincenzosplate.com/how-to-make-beef-cheeks/
#beef #recipe #vincenzosplate
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INGREDIENTS:
800 g / 28.2 oz beef cheeks
150 g / 5.2 oz butter
250 ml / 1 cup red wine
2 carrots, skin on
2 celery sticks
1 onion
2 – 3 garlic cloves
354 ml / 1½ cups vegetable stock
250 ml / 1 cup passata
Bay leaves
Fresh sprigs of thyme and oregano
Salt and pepper
For the Mashed Potato
1 kilo / 35.2oz white potatoes
100 g / 3.5oz butter
5 Tbsp of Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano, grated
236 ml / 1 cup hot full-cream milk
Salt
METHOD:
1) Place a Dutch oven or casserole pan over medium-high heat. Add the butter along with the thyme and oregano and let the butter melt.
2) Add the beef cheeks to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes on each side, spooning the butter over the meat as it cooks. Once nicely browned, remove the herbs and set the beef cheeks aside.
3) Lower the heat to medium-low. Carefully add the red wine a little at a time to deglaze the pan. Use a spoon to scrape up all the flavourful bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. This is where the flavour is.
4) Crush the garlic with your hand and add it to the pan. Cut the onion into quarters directly over the pan. Cut the carrots and celery into large pieces, or simply break them by hand, and add them in. 5) Add the bay leaves and stir everything together.
5) Return the beef cheeks to the pan and add the vegetable stock. Cover with a lid and cook for 30 minutes.
6) After 30 minutes, remove the beef cheeks from the pan. Add the passata to the sauce and mix well. Place the beef cheeks back into the pan, cover, and cook for a minimum of 3½ hours. Turn the meat every 30 minutes to 1 hour so it cooks evenly and stays beautifully tender.
Keep reading the recipe via:
https://www.vincenzosplate.com/how-to-make-beef-cheeks/
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⏱️⏱️TIMECODES⏱️⏱️
0:00 Introduction to Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks in Red Wine Sauce
0:29 Ingredients for Beef Cheeks
1:56 How to Sear the Beef Cheeks
4:12 How to Braise the Beef Cheeks and Vegetables
7:22 How to Make Creamy Mashed Potatoes
11:53 Making the Rich Red Wine Sauce
14:28How to Serve Slow Cooked Beef Cheeks in Red Wine Sauce
15:59 Time to Eat the Beef Cheeks, E ora si Mangia
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37 Comments
Didn't realize there was an Italian recipe for beef cheeks. Have only had them smoked here in Texas (which will also blow your mind).
My absolute favorite dish!!
Could you use Guenchalie with this instead?
I licked my laptop screen…………………………………………….
Beautiful! Your joy is absolutely palpable – thank you for sharing it with us!
Vincenzo! Never before have you you made something I want right now! I know people think pasta, pasta, pasta… but this recipe was an eye opener! I love that basic technique remains through all your recipes. The deglasing, the soffrito… I want to make this right now! And sandwich? Sure! But, mashed potatoes? I'm with you all day! Sorry, had too many beers… love you buddy!
Gorgeous, comforting dish to warm the belly and soul👍😊
Super nice, thanks for this vid! What is the Italian name for this recipe?
This is magic…
Lol, i wanted to jump through the screen and eat that!
thanks chef. great recipe!! why didn't you cut the meat into smaller chunks before cooking. smaller chunks – larger surface area and more opportunity for taste to develop
It's interesting that you need to use a leaner cheek for this recipe! If you had some animal fat on the cheek, could you theoretically use less lard?
Lovely recipe!
That is amazing. 😋
"Beef cheeks" sounds like a hilarious slur.
Ma, Vincenzo, a me sembra bruciato! 😅
1:19 tallow would probably also be very good for this.
Very cheap to.make too
7:43 Beef and potatoes. sure. I would think polenta would also be very good with this.
I made Nduja Mashed potatoes once.
It is really wonderfully cooked! 👍 But beyond a certain age and a certain number of dental crowns, the dish is no longer really enjoyable. Great taste, but hours of picking meat fibers out from between your teeth.
Why don't you make a video about reviewing Cooking with Kian, like specifically his long-term video about the 4 Roman Pastas?
Great recipe Vincenzo, thank you!
Seems like a North Italian take on beef Bourguignon
Is it possible to make it in a dutch oven and put that in the oven for a period of time instead of a stove top?
While I am not yet sure about it, I am beginning to believe that you are truly more talented than Gordon Ramsay!
Great.
I prefer to use lard when cooking older Italian recipes as olive oil wasn't used for cooking with. Also the flavour it brings is better in the dish.
Buanciale! (Beef Guanciale)
Totally incredible Sir!!! I mean it when I say this was too much for me to manage without feeling hungry!!! I really do. The wine choice is the best. The beef cheeks would also be great with pasta. Mash is a great choice, adds comfort as you said and mash pairs well with beef. Honestly I think this looks wonderful.
Perfectissimo! Which I write in Spanish because it reminds me of some of the rich Mexican adobo beef sauces I've seen. And as a comfort food dish, this is unrivalled by anything in America! An unusual cut which I have never tried–but the finished product makes it worth driving from New Jersey to Arthur Avenue to find! Vincenzo–Brilliant! Making next week changing not a thing. [Except by necessity subbing out the Barolo–that's too dear price-wise around here. A good Sonoma Cabernet ought to do!] Buon' Apetito!
Amazing recipe
Vincenzo, I agree with you – mashed potato complements the dish. However, I would try it with gnocchi as the dish is very similar to Dalmatian Pašticada. Comfort food is a wonderful thing.
Had beef cheeks in a restaurant a few weeks ago for the first and absolutely loved it. So luscious and delicious. By the way, is that a Dutch oven from bare cookware.
I made this last weekend, but I used beef chuck. I'll try your recipe next time if I can find beef cheeks.
Love the video Vincenzo. If l can't find Beef Cheeks, what other cuts of the beef can l use? How about some roasted potatoes served with the Cheeks. Take care Vincenzo.
In Castilla (Spain) there is also a very similar recipe, very very traditional and with a long history: carrilleras de cerdo en salsa. It is also cooked in wine for a really long time, but in lard (butter was a luxury in such a dry area). Of course no one cooks today with lard 😅 (health worries and improved access to food).
I thought that part of the pig was all used up to do guanciale 😄
Thank you for your work!
Your videos never fail to evoke a memory for me. Of all of my senses…it is taste that resonates within the deepest recesses of my mind. When I began to watch the video, I thought, beef cheeks??? Then you mentioned Tasmania and I remembered that you reside in Australia and my brain shifted into overdrive…
My father was reassigned to work in the South Sea in 1979. I remained behind in Singapore to complete my secondary education. I then returned to America to study at university. I visited them when they lived in Perth and later joined them when they relocated to the opposite coast. My father was sent ahead us, and my mother and I decided to make the journey across the continent by rail…The Indian Pacific. It was a remarkable, unforgettable experience. Mind you, the train, back then, showed signs of its age…a little frayed around the edges. Nothing like what it is today.
That being said, the meals were decent. One of which, thank you for reminding me, was beef cheeks served with mashed potatoes and a veg. It was, as far I knew, then, new to me. Did I like it??? Honestly, I don't remember…but I hated the full English breakfast served every morning.
Australia doesn't linger in my memory as a source of culinary delights, save Chinatown's offerings in Melbourne, local curry shops, and fish and chip takeaways. Also, a birthday lunch at the Melbourne Botanical Gardens where I had my first encounter with Pavlova…that was heavenly.
My mother had opted not to live in the city. She had a friend, from her hometown in South Louisiana, that lived in Sale. It was country, quaint, and colonial…frayed by age like the train…but it was delightful and it afforded my parents the quiet that they deserved after a life traversing the globe. Country horse races were about the only choice for entertainment….and the wine!!! The pace of life was slow…in spite of the giant spiders and the persistent flies!!! And transportation strikes!!!
I explored on my own…trips back into the city on old tiny planes…long drives, alone, to nowhere in particular…and more than one junket to Tasmania where I quickly realized it wasn't merely a prison or a devilish rodent…one more opportunity to "live" the world.
I was very fortunate back then: I still am. I have lived a life rife with memories that I hold dear. That is priceless indeed!!!
Sorry if I got carried away…
I say all of this because you are on a mission to keep culinary traditions alive. It is important for me because it unlocks so many memories. It is up to all of us, my friend, to share our experiences and our passion… and to encourage the generations that swim in our wake…to explore, and to embrace, the culinary history of our world.
My sincerest appreciation for what you bring to our world's table.