Shop Our New Year's Range!

Back to Recipes
  1. Home /
  2. Community /
  3. Recipes /
  4. How to cook Ox cheek Bourguignon

How to cook Ox cheek Bourguignon

  • 15 mins
  • 3 hours 30 mins
  • medium
  • 4-6
jeff baker
Recipe by
Jeff Baker

Ingredients

  • 1 kg Ox cheek
  • 500g Red wine
  • Few sprigs thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 150g Pancetta slab to cut into lardons (equal strips approximately 5mm wide)
  • Beef dripping or Schmaltz to cook
  • 1 onion diced
  • 4 cloves garlic crushed
  • 2 sticks celery diced (optional)
  • 500g Beef Stock
  • 2 tsp. Dijon mustard
  • 2 tsp. Tomato puree
  • 1 tbsp. corn flour mixed with a little cold water
  • Punnet button onions or shallots peeled
  • Ingredients to garnish
  • 3 carrots peeled & diced
  • Punnet chestnut mushrooms cut in half
  • Salt & black pepper
Shop our Grass Fed Beef

Introduction

Here's my take on the world-famous Bourguignon, beef slowly simmered in red wine with smoked bacon & mushrooms. In this version, I use ox cheeks, a chef's favourite choice though you could use shin or skirt & get excellent results. I like to cook the garnish separately & add it at the end to give freshness to this super rich dish. Serve with fresh pappardelle tossed in butter & parsley or simply served with mashed potatoes.

Method

Method for Bourguignon

  1. Cut into 8 equal pieces & marinated in the red wine, thyme & bay leaf ideally overnight (or any other diced beef of your choice)
  2. Drain the cheeks reserving the red wine for later
  3. Preheat oven to 130°C for fan-assisted or 150°C for ovens without a fan (gas 2)
  4. Gently fry the pancetta lardons in a flameproof casserole dish until golden then remove from the pan using a slotted spoon & reserve
  5. Season the cheeks then in the rendered pancetta fat sear over high heat until browned all over, remove from the pan & set aside
  6. Add a little extra fat then soften the diced onions, garlic & celery over low heat until soft then deglaze with the reserved wine, mustard & tomato puree then reduce a little, bring to a boil & thicken a little with the corn flour
  7. Add the ox cheeks to the gravy, cover with a lid & place in the oven for 3½ hours or until fork-tender
  8. Pass the gravy through a fine strainer into a clean pan, skim away any fat that rises to the surface then reduce a little until rich & glossy & pour back over the ox cheeks & lardons

similar recipes