Last night, we ate a better dinner than you did. We’d bet our house on it. Any takers? We didn’t think so. Just look at that photo. So delicious.
Even more impressive than how the meal tasted was that we made it at home. You know, like with our bare hands. Mostly with our bare hands. We also used an electric pressure cooker. That’s important. It cuts cooking time from ten hours to one and a half.
Have you ever seen a raw beef cheek? It’s pure muscle—very tough and very lean. Literally, we had trouble even piercing it with a fork to lift it. But, cooked properly, usually over low and slow heat and braised in liquid, it becomes so tender and so saturated with flavor. And, the braising liquid makes a perfect sauce.
If you have a whole day to prepare dinner, throw the beef cheeks in a crockpot. An electric pressure cooker achieves the same result in warp speed. We love our Instant Pot. Here’s how we did it.
Pressure Cooker Beef Cheeks in a Red Wine Gravy
Ingredients
Stage One
- 2 beef cheeks, each approximately 10 ounces
- Flour, salt, and pepper, dusting
- One tablespoon of olive oil
Stage Two
- One stick of celery, chopped
- One carrot, chopped
- One yellow onion, chopped
- Five garlic cloves, chopped
Stage Three
- Two cups of red wine
Stage Four
- One cup of beef stock
- Three bay leaves, preferably fresh
- Three sprigs of thyme, preferably fresh
- Three sprigs of parsley, preferably fresh
- 1 teaspoon of Hungarian paprika
Stage Five
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
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- Turn on the pressure cooker’s sauté function and add a tablespoon of oil. Dust the beef cheeks in flour, salt and pepper and brown top and bottom—approximately three minutes each side. After browned, remove and set aside.
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- Using a spatula, scrap free any beef residue. Add the carrot, onion, celery and garlic. Cook for a couple minutes until onion becomes translucent.
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- Add red wine and cook until it begins to simmer.
- Add beef stock, thyme, parsley, bay leaves and paprika. Cook for another minute or two.
- Turn off the sauté function. Add beef cheeks, making sure they are submersed as deep as possible in liquid. Seal pressure cooker, set it to high, and cook for one hour and twenty minutes.
- When finished, release the machine’s pressure. Remove the beef cheeks. Puree what remains in a blender.
- If the sauce is too thin, return it to the pressure cooker and, using the sauté function, reduce it to the desired consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.
You may be intimated by all the steps, i.e., the process. Don’t be. The pressure cooker will do most of the work while you binge watch Making a Murder on Netflix. The end result is decadently worth the effort.
We placed our beef cheeks over mashed potatoes and drenched it all in glorious sauce. Polenta or cheesy grits would also be awesome. Don’t forget the glass of cabernet sauvignon.
Thanks to Carine’s Food Space, RecipeTin Eats, and Weigh It Up for the inspiration.
5 Responses
Cooked Beef Cheeks in my instant pot with this recipe was absolutely yummy will defiantly be using this web sit again
Thanks, Karen!
Have done this three times now and I’ve settled on one little addition which is a couple of pinches of Old Bay Seasoning thrown in when I add the wine.
Love this recipe and love the food!
I have cooked these loads of times using either red wine or stout. I only cook them for 45 mins and leave them on natural release and they are awesome.