Beef cheeks are one of my favourite ingredients. They're the perfect slow food; they can be left to cook for hours in the slow cooker or on the side of the stove and the longer you leave it, the more deliciously tender it will be.

Beef cheeks have numerous uses and the recipe possibilities are endless. You can marinate them in red wine, cook them with tomatoes and mushrooms, enjoy them braised or boiled, turn them into rillettes or even a terrine. A very famous Parisian recipe is the Boeuf Mironton - leftover beef cheeks pot au feu cooked a la Mironton. 

Surprisingly, no one wanted beef cheeks 15 years ago and the finest restaurants weren't interested in serving them. Luckily that's changed and beef cheeks are now appreciated for what they are - extremely tasty and gelatinous meat with a texture that is second to none and melts in the mouth.

I am a chef by profession but I am not only a chef - I am also a gourmet connoisseur and being a chef provides me with the opportunity to be in the right place at the right time when it comes to buying produce for my restaurants. I also get to eat and taste everything that I buy and that is one of the best aspects of my job! For the last few years I have been able to try some seven or eight different breeds of beef, all sourced from Scotland. I have tried Shorthorn, Highland Wagyu, Dexter beef and many more and all of those beef cheeks were marvellous.

Whatever you buy make sure you buy the best quality you can afford. Ask your butcher to tell you about the beef, ask him what it is and where it comes from. Finally, don't hesitate to follow your feelings when cooking. A bit more of this or a bit less of that and should I add some of this? Yes that is what cooking is all about. Use your feelings and share with your family and friends.

Bon Appétit!

Beef Cheeks Pie

Serves 4

Ingredients
 4 beef/ox cheeks
50cl beef bouillon
40cl beef demi glace or brown stock
25cl white wine
2 carrots, diced
2 small onions, diced
2 garlic cloves
1 shallot, diced
4 tomatoes, diced
1 bouquet garni
450g mashed potato
4 tbsp. flour
Vegetable oil or duck fat
  Apinch of coarse sea salt
Fresh chives or parsley
Salt and pepper

Method

1 Preheat your oven to 180°C.

2 Peel and prepare all of the vegetables and put to one side.

3 Clean the beef cheeks and trim off any excess fat (make sure you leave them whole). Season with sea salt, roll them in flour and tap any excess flour off.

4 Heat the oil or duck fat in a large cast iron pot. When it's smoking hot, brown the meat evenly. Add the prepared onions, shallots and carrots and sweat gently for 15 minutes.

5 Remove any excess fat from the pot and deglaze it by adding the white wine, beef bouillon and stock. Once it's boiling add the bouquet garni, garlic and diced tomatoes. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

6 Cover the pot with a lid and cook in the oven for two and a half to three hours or until the meat is tender.

7 Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

8 Put the oven temperature up to 220°C.

9 Transfer the meat to a separate bowl and pass the sauce through a fine sieve pressing all the vegetables to extract all of their juices.

10 Pour the sauce back into the pot and reduce until it has thickened. Taste and season.

11 Add the meat and reheat everything together. Using a wooden spatula, flatten the meat roughly and cover with a generous helping of mashed potato.

12 Place the pot in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden on the top. Sprinkle with fresh chives or parsley and serve.