Professional Veal Cheek Meat Recipes

Tongue in Cheek

By Ed Matthews from One Block West Restaurant in Winchester, Virginia

The procedure goes thus. You’ll first brine the tongue in a pastrami cure for about a week. Then you’ll braise the

tongue until it is tender. After this, you’ll peel it, dry rub it, and smoke it. Once the tongue is smoked, you’ll dice it finely to

convert it to a stuffing for the veal cheeks, stuff the cheeks, chill them, bread them with deli mustard and rye breadcrumbs,

and deep fry them.

Cure the Tongue:

An average veal tongue, about a pound, will require about a week in the brine to cure. My basic formula

for a gallon of brine is:

1 gallon water

1 cup Kosher salt

1 cup brown sugar

8 cloves garlic, whole, but crushed

4 bay leaves

2 tablespoons coriander seeds

2 tablespoons black peppercorns

1-½ ounces pink salt

Heat all ingredients and stir well until the sugar and salts are dissolved. Cool to room temperature. Place the veal

tongues in the brine, weight down, and cover. Refrigerate for a week. Two tongues, about 2 pounds, will be

sufficient to stuff 10 pounds of veal cheeks.

Braise the Tongue

After the tongues have cured for a week, remove them from the brine, rinse them, and braise them in water with

mirepoix and a bay leaf until tender, but not falling apart, about three hours. Let cool to the point where you can

handle them and then peel them.

The braising liquid will be too salty to reuse for any other purpose, so I braise in water rather than more expensive

wine or stock. Feel free to use what you will.

Smoke the Tongue

Once the tongues have been braised and peeled, slice them into large rounds for more smoke and dry rub contact,

then rub them with the following pastrami rub and lightly smoke them, about 20-30 minutes.

My basic pastrami rub is:

1 part coriander seeds, ground

1 part black peppercorns, ground

1 part brown sugar

Braise the Veal Cheeks

10 pounds Le Québécois veal cheeks

1 750-ml bottle of fruity white wine (I use Picpoul)

4 leeks, cleaned and diced

Bouquet garni of thyme and parsley

Additional water to cover the veal

Trim any excess fat from around the edges of the veal cheeks. Remove any silverskin from the cheeks.

Braise in a slow oven with the white wine and leeks until tender, but not falling apart, approximately 90-minutes

to two hours.

Remove the veal cheeks from the braising liquid and let cool until you can handle them. Meanwhile, defat and strain

the braising liquid, then return it to the stove and reduce to the demiglace point.

Stuff the Veal Cheeks

Finely dice the cold, smoked tongue (brunoise dice) and bind with the demiglace from braising the veal

cheeks and a touch of brown deli mustard to taste. Season to taste with additional pastrami rub and salt.

Cut a slot in the side of each veal cheek to form a pocket. Stuff the pocket with the smoked tongue mixture

and refrigerate. Refrigeration will make breading the cheeks easier and it will cause the demiglace to set up and

hold the tongue firmly in the cheek, pun intended.

Bread the Veal Cheeks

Leave your favorite seeded rye bread on the counter to become stale or dry it in an oven with just the pilot light on.

Process the bread in the food processor to make bread crumbs.

Thin your favorite brown deli mustard with sufficient neutral oil to make it fluid enough to easily coat the veal. Roll the

veal cheeks in the mustard and then in the rye crumbs.

Fry the Veal Cheeks

Fry to golden brown at a moderate oil temperature, around 350F. Drain on paper toweling and serve. You may also

hold the cheeks in a warm oven during service, after frying.

Plate the Veal Cheeks

Garnish with sauerkraut, deli mustard, and cornichons.

Vanilla Scented Grain-Fed Veal Cheeks

By Jake Addeo from Abboccato Restaurant, NYC

Noveau Veau Grand Goutez, Petit Plaque, Asiatque Style

By Diane Halferty from Culinary Adventures, LLC

Filling:

1 teaspoon Olive oil

1 large Shallot peeled and minced

3 Yukon Gold or New Potatoes, peeled and finely diced

1 teaspoon Soy Sauce

1 Cup low salt Chicken or Vegetable Broth

1 teaspoon Gelatin Powder

Kosher Salt and White Pepper, to taste

Wrap and assembly:

3 Large carrots, blanched and sliced paper thin lengthwise

Reserved cooked veal

12 blanched Haricot Vert or Chinese Long Beans

½ Roma Tomato peeled, seeded and diced

Kosher Salt and freshly ground pepper

Garnish:

Herbes de Provence

12 peeled Cherry tomatoes

Micro herbs or watercress

Heat the oven to 225 Degrees F. In a medium pan over medium-high heat, add the oil and brown the veal on all

sides. Remove the veal from the pan, reserve, and add the onions, carrots, celery, garlic and mushrooms, then

caramelize. Stir in the tomato paste, and cook, stirring frequently for 3 minutes. Stir in the wine and reduce by

half. Add the zests, rosemary, parsley, thyme, bay leaf, stock orange juice and veal. Season with salt and white

pepper, to taste. Bring mixture to a boil, remove from the stove and put in the oven to cook until tender.

Remove the veal (reserving the sauce) and cool; shred the meat. Strain the sauce through a fine mesh sieve and reduce

to a thick sauce consistency.

For the filling:

In a small sauté pan, add the oil and sauté shallots until translucent. Add the potato, soy sauce and broth. Cook

potato until tender. Add the gelatin and salt and pepper, to taste; cool.

To Assemble:

Place plastic wrap on a flat work surface. Overlap the carrot slices to form a 4×10-inch rectangle. Spread the

potatoes on top of the carrots, leaving 1-inch uncovered along the top of the 10-inch side of the rectangle. Place

veal and vegetables on top of the potatoes. Using the plastic wrap, carefully roll into a roulade. Tighten the roll

and refrigerate for one hour. Remove from refrigerator and slice into ¾-inch pieces

For plating:

Spoon sauce onto small plates and top with a veal round. Garnish with peeled cherry tomatoes, micro greens

and a sprinkle of Herbes de Provence.

Braised Veal Cheeks with Pumpkin Polenta

By Penelope Lehman- Kinsey from Blind Dog Restaurant & Sushi

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. In a large, ovenproof Dutch oven heat oil over high heat until almost

smoking. Season the meat with sea salt and cracked black pepper. Sear meat in hot oil, in batches if necessary,

until well browned on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside. Add remaining onion, carrot and celery to the

pan along with the and cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are very soft and beginning to caramelize. Add

remaining garlic and cook 2 minutes. Add red wine, Madeira and veal stock. Bring to a boil, skim any foam off

top of liquid, and add water, tomato paste, and return to a boil. Add meat and any accumulated juices, stir well,

cover tightly, and place in the oven. Cook for 4 1/2 to 5 hours, undisturbed, or until cheeks are very tender.

Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary and serve over hot polenta.

Pumpkin Polenta

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1/2 cups minced onion

• 1 clove minced garlic

• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme

• 1 tablespoon chopped sage

• 2 cups chicken stock

• 2 cups heavy cream

• 2 cups polenta

• ¼ cup pumpkin puree

• ¼ cup sour cream

• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan

• 4 tablespoons butter

• Salt

Directions

In a 4-quart saucepan, heat butter over medium heat. Add onions, thyme, sage and garlic and sweat for 3

minutes until vegetables are translucent and aromatic. Add chicken stock and cream and bring to a simmer.

Whisk in polenta and reduce heat to low. Mix in the pumpkin puree. Cook over a low heat, stirring every

couple of minutes until desired thickness. Remove from heat and whisk in sour cream, cheese and butter, and

season with salt and serve.

Three Hour Braised Veal Cheeks Bourgignon Style

By Jean-Luc Royere from The Lodge at Seaisland in Saint Simons Island, GA

•Clean the Veal Cheeks if not already cleaned, lay them on a sheet pan than season both side with S+P and

Provence herbs. Put a Rondo on medium heat, add OO and sear them until golden brown,discard the fat.

Add Onions, Carrots, Leeks and Mushrooms then cook for 3 minutes stirring occasionally.

•Once the vegetables are sweat, "Singer" with the Flour on top, put the rondo in an 350 degrees oven for 4-5 minutes.

(time for the flour to cook).

•Back on the burner add the Tomato paste, stir for 2-3 minutes than add the 2 bottles of Red wine and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, add the Stock with the rest of ingredients (Black Pepper,Garlic,bqt garni).Bring the stew to a simmer,

cover with parchment paper and put the Rondo in the oven @300 degree for 2 -2 ½ hours ,check time to time and keep

it going a little longer if needed. Do not boil, just simmering.

•Once cooked, take out the Veal Cheeks from the braising liquid, pass the jus thru a Chinois and save Carrots and

Mushrooms for garnish. Put the liquid back on the burner and reduce from 25%-30% or thicken with a Brown Roux

(Bacon fat and Flour).Verify seasoning.

•Put the sauce back on the Cheeks and let it cool down, reserve.

•Aside, peel the Pearl Onions after soaking them into warm water (to facilitate the peeling).in a sauté pan add ½ tbsp

of Butter, sauté the Onions until golden. Add 1 pint of Chicken stock’s and a little sugar, turn the heat on low than

simmer until aldente .Once cooked take them out of the liquid and cool them down at room temperature. Reserve them

into the cooking liquid once cold.

•Cook Pennes Pastas Aldente in boiling salty water.

Yield: 10 (avg) Portion size: 4 Cheeks/ 3 oz pastas

Spanish Rouladen

By Andrew Tenaglia CEC from Lagniappe Brasserie in New Berlin, WI

Directions:

One veal flank butterflied and pounded slightly. Season with sea salt, inside and out. Layer with Arugula leaves,

or other astringent green, to completely cover flank. Pipe a thin layer of Le Quebecois chorizo (recipe to follow)

to cover the arugula. Sprinkle aged Manchego cheese over chorizo. Roll tightly and bind with kitchen twine.

Heat a saute pan add olive oil and add the flank seam side down, so it sears effectively, and place in oven at

400 degrees. After seven minutes rotate one third turn to sear the second side. After seven more minutes rotate

a third turn to sear the third side. Remove veal and let rest. Deglaze pan with Spanish Rhjoa wine, shallots, garlic

and veal demi-glaze. Strain sauce and serve underneath sliced veal flank.

Slow Braised Le Quebecois Veal Cheeks and Sweet Bread Ravioli with Roasted Root Vegetables

By Collin Donnelly

Method:

Brown cheeks on flat top, remove to hotel pan,add mirepoix and lightly brown, add to pan along with any scraped of

goodness from the flat top, the garlic, the tomatoes, and the wine. Almost cover with the "amazing stock-almost sauce",

wrap and put in an oven @275 until fork tender (about 3­4 hours).Remove from oven and let cool to room temp.

Separate cheeks from veg and save both (I know...the veg looks totally hammered, however they taste great...like

the veg leftover from mom’s pot roast; strain "now even more amazing stock-definitely sauce" and refrigerate

all separately. The braising liquid should be firmly gelled when cool and explode across your tongue with an

unparalleld beefy right hook...if it doesn’t the dish will lack depth, soul and both insoucience and a sense of elan

that has heretofore eluded us all!

For sweetbreads add to a pot of cold salted water, bring to a simmer and simmer for about 5 minutes, then remove

from heat and let cool for 20 minutes. Remove any membrane and med dice. Reserve.

For pasta sheets use 4 whole eggs to about 3 cups flour(give or take)plus a pinch o’ salt and follow standard "well"

technique. Let rest for 30 minutes and roll out to thinnest setting. Cut into rectangles about 8 inches long and about

4 inches wide.

For service heat up 4 oz of "amazing­elan­beef hook sauce" with two small or one large piece of cheek with about 2 oz

of reserved veg and about 1 oz of diced sweet breads. In a skillet put a dab of butter, a litle s&p, a squirt of white wine,

and pinch of chili flake, along with a good handfull of cleaned-deribbed swiss chard. Cook on highest heat to wilt into soft unctuosness with all the liquid just about evaporated and line the bottom of a large pasta bowl with the aforementioned

chard. Drop the pasta sheet in salted boiling water until al dente and drape (centered) on top of the chard. Fill with the

cheeks, some of the veg, sauce, and sweet bread mixture. Fold up edges to form a cool package and top with the remaining

sauce. Of course while doing all this you were also frying, in a bit of evoo, a whole egg to sunny side up and then garnished

with a bit of maldon sea salt.

To make this all a lot faster the raviolo can be prebuilt by blanching & shocking the pasta sheets, adding the cheeks, veg,

sweets, and a chunk of solidified sauce-all wrapped up- and put in a small bowl with 1 tbsp of water, plastic wrapped,

and nuked to order for 2 1/2 minutes-while the chard is wilting & the egg is sunnysideupping, with a little extra sauce

poured on top. A final flourish of white truffle oil wouldn’t be totally out of place however it could be considered, in some

circles, as a snobbish and superfluous bit of lily-guilding...proceed at your own risk. An excellent fall/winter dish and

I salute the fine folks at "Le Quebecois" for having both the vision and intestinal fortitude to produce such fine veal products.

Braised Veal Cheeks with Sundried Tomato and Anchovy

By William L. McGrory IV from Taste Select Wines in Austin, Texas

1. Season with salt and black pepper veal cheeks

2. In a hot rondo sear each side of cheeks and collect them in a hotel pan

3. Caramelize vegetables Cover pan and cheeks with a layer of cheese cloth

4. Deglaze pan with red wine and reduce by half and then add stock

5. Pour over the cheese cloth making sure there is some hanging over the sides.

6. fold cheese cloth over the vegetables and cover with foil and put put into a 300 degree oven till tender (about

2 hours).

7. When done pull cheese cloth and vegetables out and drain and discard.

8. to order put cheeks in a small rondo to glaze and ready to add next step

2# sundried tomatoes

24ea anchovies

3cloves garlic

3ea shallots

2qt veal stock

1 sache rosemary and thyme

salt and pepper to taste

In a rondo add garlic, shallots, tomatoes, sache and caramelize deglaze with veal stockand cook till there is

almost no liquid Then transfer to a robo coup or food processor and add anchovies and season to taste.

When picking this dish up you have the glazed veal cheeks add sundried tomato and anchovy paste. Serve with

a bone marrow toast point.

Veal Cheeks, Saffron Celery Root Puree, Star Anise Aplle­Fig Chutney, Curry Jus

By Scott Hemmerly from Mansion on Peachtree in Atlanta, GA

1/2 # celery root

1 pint = part chicken stock & cream

2 oz white onion

pinch saffron

1 ea diced gala apple

1/2 cup chopped dried calmyrna figs

2 oz white balsamic

2 oz sugar in the raw

1 ea star anise

1 ea cinnamon stick

Method:

heat olive oil in wide pot, add cheeks and butter. brown until well browned and fond has formed in pan. remove

veal and add aromatics and reduce heat. sweat for five minutes then deglaze with reisling. reduce au sec, add

veal and stock. bring to boil and reduce heat to simmer. continue for 45 min or until fork tender. remove veal and

reduce stock to glace consistancy. reserve for plating.

sweat onions in butter, add celery root, saffron and liquid. boil until tender. add cooked roots to blender, slowly

adding liquid to puree smooth.

put apples and figs and pot and cover with vinegar and sugar. add star anise, cinnamon stick. cook until liquid

becomes syruplike consistancy.

plate puree with veal on top, finish with sauce and chutney, serve.

Warm Lobster Claw with Braised Veal Cheeks in a Truffled Cauliflower Puree

By Roberto Leoci from Bull Street Chophouse in Savannah, Georgia

Lobster Claw: Poach Lobster in Clarified Butter until tender(8 minutes)

Veal Cheeks:

Add Olive Oil,Brown Mirapoix add Veal Cheeks,add wine add Tomato’s,Herbs, Braise for Two Hours

Cauliflower:
Steam Cauliflower until Tender, Then Puree,add almonds and truffle oil Compose by adding purre at the

Base of Martini Glass, Slice Veal Cheeks add to the top,top with Lobster Claw and add Chives for decorations.

Tongue in Cheek

By Roberto Leoci from Bull Street Chophouse in Savannah, Georgia

The preparation is simple, but lengthy. It will take approximately a week from start to finish. The bulk of the time is in

curing the tongue.

The procedure goes thus. You’ll first brine the tongue in a pastrami cure for about a week. Then you’ll braise the tongue

until it is tender. After this, you’ll peel it, dry rub it, and smoke it. Once the tongue is smoked, you’ll dice it finely to convert

it to a stuffing for the veal cheeks, stuff the cheeks, chill them, bread them with deli mustard and rye breadcrumbs,

and deep fry them.

Cure the Tongue:

An average veal tongue, about a pound, will require about a week in the brine to cure. My basic formula for a gallon

of brine is:

1 gallon water

1 cup Kosher salt

1 cup brown sugar

8 cloves garlic, whole, but crushed

4 bay leaves

2 tablespoons coriander seeds

2 tablespoons black peppercorns

1-½ ounces pink salt

Heat all ingredients and stir well until the sugar and salts are dissolved. Cool to room temperature. Place the veal

tongues in the brine, weight down, and cover. Refrigerate for a week. Two tongues, about 2 pounds, will be sufficient

to stuff 10 pounds of veal cheeks.

Braise the Tongue

After the tongues have cured for a week, remove them from the brine, rinse them, and braise them in water with mirepoix

and a bay leaf until tender, but not falling apart, about three hours. Let cool to the point where you can handle them and

then peel them.

The braising liquid will be too salty to reuse for any other purpose, so I braise in water rather than more expensive wine

or stock. Feel free to use what you will.

Once the tongues have been braised and peeled, slice them into large rounds for more smoke and dry rub contact,

then rub them with the following pastrami rub and lightly smoke them, about 20-30 minutes. My basic pastrami rub is:

1 part coriander seeds, ground

1 part black peppercorns, ground

1 part brown sugar

Braise the Veal Cheeks

10 pounds Le Québécois veal cheeks

1 750-ml bottle of fruity white wine (I use Picpoul)

4 leeks, cleaned and diced

Bouquet garni of thyme and parsley

Additional water to cover the veal

Trim any excess fat from around the edges of the veal cheeks. Remove any silverskin from the cheeks. Braise in a slow

oven with the white wine and leeks until tender, but not falling apart, approximately 90-minutes to two hours.

Remove the veal cheeks from the braising liquid and let cool until you can handle them. Meanwhile, defat and strain

the braising liquid, then return it to the stove and reduce to the demiglace point.

Stuff the Veal Cheeks

Finely dice the cold, smoked tongue (brunoise dice) and bind with the demiglace from braising the veal cheeks

and a touch of brown deli mustard to taste. Season to taste with additional pastrami rub and salt.

Cut a slot in the side of each veal cheek to form a pocket. Stuff the pocket with the smoked tongue mixture and refrigerate.

Refrigeration will make breading the cheeks easier and it will cause the demiglace to set up and hold the tongue

firmly in the cheek, pun intended.

Bread the Veal Cheeks

Leave your favorite seeded rye bread on the counter to become stale or dry it in an oven with just the pilot light on.

Process the bread in the food processor to make bread crumbs.

Thin your favorite brown deli mustard with sufficient neutral oil to make it fluid enough to easily coat the veal. Roll the

veal cheeks in the mustard and then in the rye crumbs.

Fry the Veal Cheeks

Fry to golden brown at a moderate oil temperature, around 350F. Drain on paper toweling and serve. You may also

hold the cheeks in a warm oven during service, after frying.

Plate the Veal Cheeks

Garnish with sauerkraut, deli mustard, and cornichons.