Sous Vide Salt-Rubbed Beef

The sous vide technique is a good way to cook beef cuts that would normally be braised, such as stew cubes, simmering steaks, short ribs and small beef pot roasts and these beef cheeks.
Yield 6 Servings Prep. Time 10 min Cooking Time 720 min Total Time 730 min

Ingredients

Here are the following ingredients:

  • 3 Beef Cheeks (about 2 lb/1 kg)
  • 1 cup (250 mL) coarse sea salt
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 10 fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped
  • 4 tbsp (60 mL) bacon fat or beef tallow (approx)

Shopping List

Here are the following shopping items to buy:

Method

Follow these cooking methods/directions:

  1. Trim fat and any silver skin from the beef cheeks. Place on a platter. Combine salt, garlic and sage in a bowl. Spread salt mixture all over beef to heavily coat. Refrigerate, uncovered, for 3 hours.

  2. Set up water bath for sous vide and preheat to 185°F (85°C) according to manufacturer’s directions.

  3. Rinse the salt mixture from the beef and pat dry with paper towel. Place 1 cheek in its own vacuum seal bag; add 1 tbsp (15 mL) bacon fat per bag. Remove as much air as possible and seal bags using vacuum sealer.

  4. Immerse bags in preheated water bath and secure to the side of the pot with a clip, keeping the top of the bags above the surface of the water. Cover water bath with foil or plastic to reduce evaporation. Cook sous vide for 12 hours.

  5. Remove each cheek from its bag, discarding liquid. Pat beef dry with paper towel. Heat a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. Add just enough of the remaining bacon fat to coat the skillet. Add beef cheeks and sear for about 30 seconds per side, turning once, until browned. Cut each in half to serve.