Ingredients
The Four Saucemen The Beef Rub, 2-6 Beef Cheeks, Olive oil a binder. This will help the rub to stick to the beef. Tin foil tray large enough to fit the beef and foil to cover, Dark beer, beef broth, one onion chopped. One great bottle of red for the chef.
Spritz Ingredients
1-part Worcestershire Sauce, 1-part clear apple juice, 1-part apple cider vinegar, 1-part water. Mix in a spray bottle or similar. $5 from Mitre 10
Directions
Step 1 open a beer and repeat if necessary. Open a good bottle of red to breath.
Set your BBQ or smoker up for indirect cooking at 250f-275f with two pieces of smoking wood. We used Pohutukawa in the BBQ Class. You can use others and play with other flavours.
30 minutes prior to smoking. Trim any silver skin and hard fat on the beef cheeks. Take your time it is worth it. Apply a thin layer of olive oil and sprinkle “The Four Saucemen Beef Rub” sparingly on all sides of the meat.
Place the prepared beef on your BBQ. We use a drip pan because of the fat drippings. Smoke uncovered for 2.5 hours (small cheeks 500gr) 4ish hours (large cheeks 1 kg). Spritz every hour. Check the colour of the beef. It should be a dark brown colour by now. If you are running an internal thermometer it should be reading 150-160f approximately. Beef cheek do vary in size. Try to get the largest possible.
At this point prepare your foil tray with the dark beer, beef broth and chopped onion. (you can also try wine, port, or beef stocks). Have enough liquid so you have 15-20mm in the base of the tray. You want these ingredients to be at least room temp. Place the beef in the foil tray and cover/seal tightly with the tin foil. This will braise the beef and make them tender. If you are using a Bluetooth style meat thermometer, insert before you cover.
Place the foil tray back onto your BBQ and until the internal temp reaches 210f. This could take between 2.5 and 4 hours depending on the size of cheeks you are using. Carefully uncover the beef and check for doneness. Use the internal temp as a guide only. Use your new temp probe to feel the meat. There should be no resistance when you probe the beef. Uncover and rest for 2 hours in a cooler. Uncover and pull the meat. Very good in Tacos, Quesadillas or just with a little salad. You can use this method on beef shin as well.
Now pour that glass of red and enjoy!
Sarah and Adam
The Four Saucemen