I made my first attempt at cooking cheek meat for the first time and it was
a success. I couldn't find much in the way of recipes, so I braised it with
just a few basic ingredients (garlic, onion, laurel, and ancho chile, a
bottle of beer and a half a lemon squeezed over towards the end of cooking),
cooked it low and slow after an initial browning, and tried to resist the
smell before dinner. The results were eaten with corn tortillas with a
selection of onions, radishes, cabbage, quesa fresca, and various additions
of heat (salsas, Jalepenos, and finely diced poblanos).

My impressions:

The raw form is a deep red and smells like organ meat. If you held a
defatted piece in your hands you might have trouble identify what this is
exactly.

Cheek meat really cooks down. A lot.

The remaining meat, once separated from the fat, is incredibly tender and
absolutely delicious.

It does taste like oxtail, but at less than half the cost. I love oxtail but
hasta la vista, baby.

The fat and broth left over at the end were also incredibly delicious so I
saved them to add flavor in the next batch of stock I make. I normally
discard this stuff but not this time.

I originally told my wife and kids that we were having cabeza. Since they
speak a fair bit of Spanish they got the wrong impression. At first my kids
thought I was going to serve them brains, and said they weren't going to eat
it. My wife thought it was leavings from the whole cow's head, meaning
brains, tongue, and pituitaries. When I told them it was just cheek meat,
they thought it was pretty funny because it sounded like they were getting
butt meat. There must be a more accurate Mexican term.

I would probably be content eating this the same way again, but the cook in
me is curious if it can be used successfully in another form. My first guess
is that it would really add to a soup that was weak on flavor or chopped
into a version of Mexican dirty rice. If anyone has tried something else I'd
be happy to hear from you.

Here in northern México, the most common use for cheek meat is in
barbacoa, specially , barbacoa de cachete.

it is basically meat cocked by steam, in the past you would make a hole
in the ground, light a fire on it , add a leaves floor, put the whole
cow's head wrapped in a cloth , spices and let it cook overnight.

nowadays you would use a regular steamer and the meat wrapped in
aluminum foil, some still use the hole head, some use the meat already
cut, it is coocked until the meat shreds easilly. it is served in
tacos.

I wish I could give you a proper recipe but I havent found one I like,
look for "Barbacoa de cabeza", or "Barbacoa de cachete".

In Monterrey , sundays barbacoa is customary, you will see long lines
at meat markets to buy it, and it goes fast!, you will hardly find any
after 10:00 am.

Regards

Twentylettersintotal wrote:
> I made my first attempt at cooking cheek meat for the first time and it was
> a success. I couldn't find much in the way of recipes, so I braised it with
> just a few basic ingredients (garlic, onion, laurel, and ancho chile, a
> bottle of beer and a half a lemon squeezed over towards the end of cooking),
> cooked it low and slow after an initial browning, and tried to resist the
> smell before dinner. The results were eaten with corn tortillas with a
> selection of onions, radishes, cabbage, quesa fresca, and various additions
> of heat (salsas, Jalepenos, and finely diced poblanos).
>
> My impressions:
>
> The raw form is a deep red and smells like organ meat. If you held a
> defatted piece in your hands you might have trouble identify what this is
> exactly.
>
> Cheek meat really cooks down. A lot.
>
> The remaining meat, once separated from the fat, is incredibly tender and
> absolutely delicious.
>
> It does taste like oxtail, but at less than half the cost. I love oxtail but
> hasta la vista, baby.
>
> The fat and broth left over at the end were also incredibly delicious so I
> saved them to add flavor in the next batch of stock I make. I normally
> discard this stuff but not this time.
>
> I originally told my wife and kids that we were having cabeza. Since they
> speak a fair bit of Spanish they got the wrong impression. At first my kids
> thought I was going to serve them brains, and said they weren't going to eat
> it. My wife thought it was leavings from the whole cow's head, meaning
> brains, tongue, and pituitaries. When I told them it was just cheek meat,
> they thought it was pretty funny because it sounded like they were getting
> butt meat. There must be a more accurate Mexican term.
>
> I would probably be content eating this the same way again, but the cook in
> me is curious if it can be used successfully in another form. My first guess
> is that it would really add to a soup that was weak on flavor or chopped
> into a version of Mexican dirty rice. If anyone has tried something else I'd
> be happy to hear from you.

Twentylettersintotal wrote:
> I made my first attempt at cooking cheek meat for the first time and it was
> a success.

Hey, you made your personal adventure into eating dog food sound like a
rite of passage!

>I couldn't find much in the way of recipes (snip)

You found that surprising? Most Americans just don't tend to eat that
part of the steer, yannow..

> The results were eaten with corn tortillas with a
> selection of onions, radishes, cabbage, quesa fresca, and various additions
> of heat (salsas, Jalepenos, and finely diced poblanos).

There really should be a Taco Eaters Anonymous organization, yannow.

"Hi, my name is Taco Eater X, and I get these cravings for anonymous
trash meat, folded in a bent tortilla. I haven't eaten a taco since
last weekend, and I'm struggling to control my compulsion..."

> The raw form is a deep red and smells like organ meat. If you held a
> defatted piece in your hands you might have trouble identify what this is
> exactly.

Well, that's part of the basic taco/burrito/menudo/birria mystique,
isn't it?

I mean, if the taco addict knows what the "mystery meat" is, before
munching on it, where's the adventure?

> The remaining meat, once separated from the fat, is incredibly tender and
> absolutely delicious.

If you think it's great like you prepared it, wait until you've eaten
road-kill that's laid in the ditch for a week. Yummy!

> I originally told my wife and kids that we were having cabeza. Since they
> speak a fair bit of Spanish they got the wrong impression. At first my kids
> thought I was going to serve them brains, and said they weren't going to eat
> it. My wife thought it was leavings from the whole cow's head, meaning
> brains, tongue, and pituitaries. When I told them it was just cheek meat,
> they thought it was pretty funny because it sounded like they were getting
> butt meat. There must be a more accurate Mexican term.

Wait until you tell your family that you're going to move them down to
the Mosquito Coast and sell ice to the natives. They will realize
you've gone off your rocker...

Hey flying booger if you don't like this stuff then don't eat it, but
anyway, you seem to know about bikes. A friend of mine use to have a
suzuki, it was a mid-late 80's or early 90's, kind of a cruiser, 1000cc
motor, what I remember disitinctly is that i had a cardan bar, somewhat
heavy but I really liked the looks of it, by chance would you know the
model I am talking about?.

Regards

Twentylettersintotal wrote:
> I made my first attempt at cooking cheek meat for the first time and it was
> a success. I couldn't find much in the way of recipes, so I braised it with
> just a few basic ingredients (garlic, onion, laurel, and ancho chile, a
> bottle of beer and a half a lemon squeezed over towards the end of cooking),
> cooked it low and slow after an initial browning, and tried to resist the
> smell before dinner. The results were eaten with corn tortillas with a
> selection of onions, radishes, cabbage, quesa fresca, and various additions
> of heat (salsas, Jalepenos, and finely diced poblanos).
>
> My impressions:
>
> The raw form is a deep red and smells like organ meat. If you held a
> defatted piece in your hands you might have trouble identify what this is
> exactly.
>
> Cheek meat really cooks down. A lot.
>
> The remaining meat, once separated from the fat, is incredibly tender and
> absolutely delicious.
>
> It does taste like oxtail, but at less than half the cost. I love oxtail but
> hasta la vista, baby.
>
> The fat and broth left over at the end were also incredibly delicious so I
> saved them to add flavor in the next batch of stock I make. I normally
> discard this stuff but not this time.
>
> I originally told my wife and kids that we were having cabeza. Since they
> speak a fair bit of Spanish they got the wrong impression. At first my kids
> thought I was going to serve them brains, and said they weren't going to eat
> it. My wife thought it was leavings from the whole cow's head, meaning
> brains, tongue, and pituitaries. When I told them it was just cheek meat,
> they thought it was pretty funny because it sounded like they were getting
> butt meat. There must be a more accurate Mexican term.
>
> I would probably be content eating this the same way again, but the cook in
> me is curious if it can be used successfully in another form. My first guess
> is that it would really add to a soup that was weak on flavor or chopped
> into a version of Mexican dirty rice. If anyone has tried something else I'd
> be happy to hear from you.
>
>
Luckily, here in Austin, there's barbacoa everywhere. Nearly all the
Tex-Mex places serve it(sometimes just on the weekends, along w/
menudo),but there's a lot of little trailers/taco trucks that have them,
and some of those are the best!

"Twentylettersintotal" > wrote in message
...
> I made my first attempt at cooking cheek meat for the first time and it
was
> a success. I couldn't find much in the way of recipes, so I braised it
with
> just a few basic ingredients (garlic, onion, laurel, and ancho chile, a
> bottle of beer and a half a lemon squeezed over towards the end of
cooking),
> cooked it low and slow after an initial browning, and tried to resist the
> smell before dinner. The results were eaten with corn tortillas with a
> selection of onions, radishes, cabbage, quesa fresca, and various
additions
> of heat (salsas, Jalepenos, and finely diced poblanos).
>
> My impressions:
>
> The raw form is a deep red and smells like organ meat. If you held a
> defatted piece in your hands you might have trouble identify what this is
> exactly.
>
> Cheek meat really cooks down. A lot.
>
> The remaining meat, once separated from the fat, is incredibly tender and
> absolutely delicious.
>
> It does taste like oxtail, but at less than half the cost. I love oxtail
but
> hasta la vista, baby.
>
> The fat and broth left over at the end were also incredibly delicious so I
> saved them to add flavor in the next batch of stock I make. I normally
> discard this stuff but not this time.
>
> I originally told my wife and kids that we were having cabeza. Since they
> speak a fair bit of Spanish they got the wrong impression. At first my
kids
> thought I was going to serve them brains, and said they weren't going to
eat
> it. My wife thought it was leavings from the whole cow's head, meaning
> brains, tongue, and pituitaries. When I told them it was just cheek meat,
> they thought it was pretty funny because it sounded like they were getting
> butt meat. There must be a more accurate Mexican term.
>
> I would probably be content eating this the same way again, but the cook
in
> me is curious if it can be used successfully in another form. My first
guess
> is that it would really add to a soup that was weak on flavor or chopped
> into a version of Mexican dirty rice. If anyone has tried something else
I'd
> be happy to hear from you.
>
>Ah memories! You do know how to stimulate the gray matter. Some sixty years
ago my stepdad and mom would take me to "El Ninipil" just off the main drag
to the Merced, then the one of two major markets serving the whole of Mexico
City's six million inhabitants. They specialized in all portions of cabeza.
It was like a smorgesboard. We'd go into the steam filled little restaurant,
point to what we wanted, then went to the loft where the waiter would bring
the delights along with fresh hand pattied tortillas, every conceivable
salsa in their proper clay pots, beer for dad and mom, Mision Orange for me.
I'd end up with a dozen tacos in my small stomach and to this day I don't
know how I was able to do that. As I recall, and have seen since, the head
is wrapped and steam cooked, or the parts of the head are mostly steamed one
way or other. Tongue is the only part I remember putting into a hot oven
without a steam towell of some kind around it, but bathed with pureed chile
ancho, garlic and stuff.

Thanks for reminding me of the true delights of cabeza.

Wayne