I'm hoping sometime soon I am able to visit you guys in TX and give them a try! Up here in the North, while some "Texas style" BBQ places try their best with brisket etc, I don't think I've ever seen beef cheeks on a menu. They look absolutely delicious!
Over here in the UK getting ahold of brisket that's the same quality as the US is tricky, however beef cheeks (or ox cheeks as they are also known) are readily available and often come trimmed already. I have done beef cheeks a few times now on my OK Joe in the style of L&L (four hours on oak, four hours in confit) and the results have completely blown people away! Going to be a staple at nearly every BBQ from now on. I also keep back the tallow (or beef dripping as it's known here) and use it to make spectacular roast potatoes.
I’ve made beef cheeks a few times after eating @ L&L. I smoke them to 165 then confit to 200 and then rest in sous vide @ 150. They are always incredible.
The L&L beef cheeks are delicious! Their burgers are really good too. A side of Frito pie and kimchi please. =) So glad you made it there to try the cheeks, so many great BBQ places and it is a challenge to hit all the stars. L&L was deemed "re-visit" by the wife, that is very high praise.
Spot on man! I thought the same exact thing when I tried them. Their beef cheeks are better than brisket and they whole hog is better than any pulled pork I’ve had
Great video yet again! I have literally watched every video you have made. Future video request: The Batchelor's brisket! Individual portion sized brisket with the cook to 190 and hold 12 hours in holding cabinet method. Key point. This is not cooking a brikset, slicing and then reheating. This is the cook and long rest, just with a pause in the middle. Cook brisket to 190, rest on counter to 150, vac seal, ice bath to spend least possible time in danger zone, cut brisket into point and flat then quater each piece so you have 8 1/2ish pound "chunks", vac seal in individual bags with added tallow, freeze, thaw, then 12 hours in a holding cabinet, Slice and serve. U can get fancy with various reheating methods if u chose. Sous vide, oven, holding cabinet, etc. I would also be interested in seeing this done with a whole brisket. The usual method is to "reheat" a whole brisket. Screw that, reheating an already cooked brisket just dries it out and makes the texture mushy. Cook to 190, freeze, thaw, then do the 12 hour rest on the day you want to eat. I am also interested in seeing the rest in a holding cabinet done in a vac seal bag. The bags are rated to 200f. They don't have to be submerged in water. They can go in an oven or holding cabinet below that 200 temp. I am convinced there is a difference in moisture retention/loss of brisket rested in a vac seal bag submerged verses not submerged. Wet bulb effect. Sorry for the long ramblings.
I want to be able to take one of those 8 chunks of brisket in the vac sealed bag and put it in the slow cooker on a rack with an inch of water in it. Put it on keep warm, which most brands keep warm functions at between 145 and 165, go to work and come home to a perfectly cooked brisket. Not a reheated brisket! I think this is the hack to a Batchelors perfectly cooked mid week individual serve of brisket.
Great ideas Josh! It would make it alot quicker and more predictable to just take a vac sealed portion of smoked brisket and sous vide it at 150 for sure!
This is basically 90% how you do smoked barbacoa minus the beef tongue. I smoke both meats for 2 hrs and then put in a pan with onions, beef broth, and garlic. Place in the oven for 4hrs at 275 and the meat falls apart. Makes excellent Mexican tacos and burritos.
I make my own barbacoa occasionally with only beef cheeks. I don’t really like the tongue. I just braise them after smoking until fork tender and just tear it all apart. Barbacoa is available everywhere in Brownsville, TX and surrounding cities. At some places you can get just tongue, cheek or mixed.
Hey hi first off I want to try some beef cheeks but second and more importantly don't use a metal brush on your grates. They can leave pieces behind that become stuck to the food. It may not be common, but my friend's son got one stuck in his throat and it caused tremendous medical issues before they figured out what the actual problem was.
I have cooked these a few times after seeing them on Chuds channel and Leroy and Lewis Channel. I do agree that they just might be better than brisket. But I question myself every time I say that because brisket is everyone's first love. good video.
Like others have mentioned its barbacoa .. i usually smoake a few hours then crock pot th rest of th way.. ill strain out th chunks from excess liquid and enjoy tacos through th week.. yum.. nice video.. keep em coming
I just bought 4.5 pounds of beef cheeks at Sam's Club at 3.98/lb. After trimming I had 2 cheeks weighing in at 1.25 pounds. Net cost per pound $14. Yikes! Plan to cook tomorrow but that's too expensive.
If you were to do it again, how would you adjust your sous vide time/temp? You mentioned Brad's went to 190 and then sous vide at 175 overnight. Whereas it sounds like you never exposed the sous vide cuts to anything over what the smoker produces (165-175) as you sous vide at 150. Feels like one of your temps should be higher... but not sure which.
Probably up to 190 first, maybe foil boated after 165. Then sv at 150 for 15 hours. Or smoked to 165 then svd at 170 for 12 hours. Would needto experiment with it to find the right combo
I tried this cut of meat ounce upon a time. I tried frying it. Stunk up the whole apartment. The taste was not bad. Nor was it great. I will try this smoked method.
Steve, I own a Masterbuilt electric smoker and have been subscribed for a while now. I wanted to know if it's worth it to upgrade like to a pellet smoker? You could do a video on the benefits of either one.
I think you can do much more with a pellet grill. Worth the upgrade for sure but keep both! The MES cooks with a much more humid environment which can be good for some meats.
Hey Steve, I tried looking but didn't catch it. By chance have you done a test on whether seasoning the night before is better than before the cook? Thanks
What size hotel pan are you using for 4 cheeks? I need this in my life. I wish you’d tried the sous vide around 175 or so. I’d like to know what it takes to get the proper render from sous vide, because that takes a lot less tallow
I've always been a fan of beef cheeks, but have braised them in the past because I wasn't sure how to smoke them. This is going to happen... and probably soon!
Guga has always found that any fats in your Sous Vide bag with Beef seems to wash out the Beefy flavor. Was surprised to see you say they seem more Beefy.
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ That actually makes a lot of sense. Guga is cooking raw meat to temp while you are taking already smoked cooked meat and simply holding with great fats along with it. Awesome brother!
They look great. Confit is a preservation method. I don't understand why Evan moves the cheeks to cook in confit, midway. I don't get it why he does not continue cooking like a brisket. In a foil boat, such as he cooks the briskets. Or wrap with some tallow. A foil Texas crutch will probably result in a very similar flavor profile compared to the confit method. Might be worth doing a comparison. In a commercial setting he has got ample access to tallow. I suppose he finds it more practical tossing the cheeks in a pan full of tallow, rather then messing around wrapping piece by piece.
I thought the same thing. Why not just foil them. But there's something about slow cooking in liquid fat. It definitely preserves the bark better. It may hold more moisture in. Worth an experiment for sure.
For Evan, it's about preserving pit space and timing. This is one factor as to why he rarely does brisket as well. He also precooks his burgers, cools them and then reheats for service. It's smart.
@@joshwilkinson9350 Yes, it takes time to wrap, and it is space saving to stack the beef cheeks in pans. I am curious about precooking burgers and holding for over 30 minutes or so. Unless he holds them in low temperature confit bath. I am in the trade, I don't allow precooking burgers, unless we are very near rush hour., if the burgers sit a bit too long, with throw them into the pot of chili.
They stay juicier for longer in fat. We dont boat them because cheeks dont have a fat cap. Also the burgers are not cooled before searing for service 👍👍
@LeRoyandLewisBBQ maybe I am remembering wrong. I have watched a video of you talking about cooking burgers pre-service and then searing on the grill to order. Perhaps they went straight from the pit to the holding cabinet. Apologies if I got it wrong. There's way to may hours of footage to go back and find the specific clip.
It is better. Much easier to cook. More bark area for same amount of meat. Can't go wrong. If only they weren't now so expensive! They used to be a cheap discarded cut.
Cheeks and Shortrib are better than Brisket. Perfect Brisket is great but a slightly-better-than-mediocre Shortrib or Cheek is better than most brisket. You just have to look at them.
Thanks for your feedback Tim. I'm a huge fan of texas bbq and I like covering stuff like this. I see interesting ideas and I think "that's really cool, I want to try that. And I wonder what would happen if I did this?" just like any bbq hobbiest. I think people really enjoy this type of content for that reason.
Awesome video, Steve! Cheeks looking great my man 🤘🤘
Thanks so much for the visit, the shoutout, and the support!❤❤
You guys rock! I'll be back!
I'm hoping sometime soon I am able to visit you guys in TX and give them a try! Up here in the North, while some "Texas style" BBQ places try their best with brisket etc, I don't think I've ever seen beef cheeks on a menu. They look absolutely delicious!
Leroy and Lewis is arguably one of the most innovative BBQ joints around.
Over here in the UK getting ahold of brisket that's the same quality as the US is tricky, however beef cheeks (or ox cheeks as they are also known) are readily available and often come trimmed already. I have done beef cheeks a few times now on my OK Joe in the style of L&L (four hours on oak, four hours in confit) and the results have completely blown people away! Going to be a staple at nearly every BBQ from now on. I also keep back the tallow (or beef dripping as it's known here) and use it to make spectacular roast potatoes.
I’ve made beef cheeks a few times after eating @ L&L. I smoke them to 165 then confit to 200 and then rest in sous vide @ 150. They are always incredible.
Did my first plate sale last month using your rub and this beef cheeks method…it was a hit!! I’m always restocking on your rub thank you!!!!
Awesome! Thank you so much!
Hi Steve, as for a warmer, I use a turkey roaster. Works very well and goes below 150 deg. F
Nice!
The L&L beef cheeks are delicious! Their burgers are really good too. A side of Frito pie and kimchi please. =) So glad you made it there to try the cheeks, so many great BBQ places and it is a challenge to hit all the stars. L&L was deemed "re-visit" by the wife, that is very high praise.
Their burgers are awesome!
Congratulations on 100K sir. You deserve it.
Thanks Eric!
Spot on man! I thought the same exact thing when I tried them. Their beef cheeks are better than brisket and they whole hog is better than any pulled pork I’ve had
Great video yet again! I have literally watched every video you have made.
Future video request:
The Batchelor's brisket!
Individual portion sized brisket with the cook to 190 and hold 12 hours in holding cabinet method. Key point. This is not cooking a brikset, slicing and then reheating. This is the cook and long rest, just with a pause in the middle.
Cook brisket to 190, rest on counter to 150, vac seal, ice bath to spend least possible time in danger zone, cut brisket into point and flat then quater each piece so you have 8 1/2ish pound "chunks", vac seal in individual bags with added tallow, freeze, thaw, then 12 hours in a holding cabinet, Slice and serve. U can get fancy with various reheating methods if u chose. Sous vide, oven, holding cabinet, etc.
I would also be interested in seeing this done with a whole brisket. The usual method is to "reheat" a whole brisket. Screw that, reheating an already cooked brisket just dries it out and makes the texture mushy. Cook to 190, freeze, thaw, then do the 12 hour rest on the day you want to eat.
I am also interested in seeing the rest in a holding cabinet done in a vac seal bag. The bags are rated to 200f. They don't have to be submerged in water. They can go in an oven or holding cabinet below that 200 temp. I am convinced there is a difference in moisture retention/loss of brisket rested in a vac seal bag submerged verses not submerged. Wet bulb effect.
Sorry for the long ramblings.
I want to be able to take one of those 8 chunks of brisket in the vac sealed bag and put it in the slow cooker on a rack with an inch of water in it. Put it on keep warm, which most brands keep warm functions at between 145 and 165, go to work and come home to a perfectly cooked brisket. Not a reheated brisket! I think this is the hack to a Batchelors perfectly cooked mid week individual serve of brisket.
Great ideas Josh! It would make it alot quicker and more predictable to just take a vac sealed portion of smoked brisket and sous vide it at 150 for sure!
L&L Beef cheeks are the best bit of BBQ in Austin. Nice video.
I love the vs. videos. Both cheeks looked fantastic...
Thanks Steve much appreciated!
This is basically 90% how you do smoked barbacoa minus the beef tongue. I smoke both meats for 2 hrs and then put in a pan with onions, beef broth, and garlic. Place in the oven for 4hrs at 275 and the meat falls apart. Makes excellent Mexican tacos and burritos.
I've been meaning to try tongue
You beat me to it. I was thinking that throughout the whole video. Barbacoa for sure
I make my own barbacoa occasionally with only beef cheeks. I don’t really like the tongue. I just braise them after smoking until fork tender and just tear it all apart. Barbacoa is available everywhere in Brownsville, TX and surrounding cities. At some places you can get just tongue, cheek or mixed.
@@txfierosone of the best barbacoa I've ever tried was in Brownsville. Guess it's a thing there 🤔
@@frank_osuna Home of Vera’s BBQ where the head of the cow is still allowed to be smoked/cooked in the ground. It’s come out in Texas Monthly I think.
Been doing beef cheek tacos for years, only thing I'd say is up your sous vide temp since brad and guga did theirs at 185 way more tender.
Congrats on the 100K subscribers. Thanks for the video. Great job.
Thank you very much!
Hey hi first off I want to try some beef cheeks but second and more importantly don't use a metal brush on your grates. They can leave pieces behind that become stuck to the food. It may not be common, but my friend's son got one stuck in his throat and it caused tremendous medical issues before they figured out what the actual problem was.
I have cooked these a few times after seeing them on Chuds channel and Leroy and Lewis Channel. I do agree that they just might be better than brisket. But I question myself every time I say that because brisket is everyone's first love. good video.
I totally agree. These style of beef cheeks is better than brisket. I’ve yet to make it myself but I had them at L&L in April and it was mind blowing!
Like others have mentioned its barbacoa .. i usually smoake a few hours then crock pot th rest of th way.. ill strain out th chunks from excess liquid and enjoy tacos through th week.. yum.. nice video.. keep em coming
Good stuff Steve! I can only imagine how crazy A5 Wagyu beef cheeks would be haha
Those would be insane!
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ Right!? I'm looking forward to someone trying it and filming it one day!
What I'd give to be able to try it too! 😅
Great Video! I will go to my local shop and see if i can find these. BTW, Your brisket rub is my go to rub. Love it!
Yes! It goes great on these!
Them be fighting words lol 😂
Lol!
I use a countertop roaster oven to hold my brisket and turkeys at a low temp for long holds. It is a much cheaper option than getting a warmer oven.
Makes sense. Need a BBQ freak experiment to prove it!
Great video and something i'll have to try. I really want to try your rub but doesn't seem to be available. Cheers and keep the videos coming.
Thanks
I just bought 4.5 pounds of beef cheeks at Sam's Club at 3.98/lb. After trimming I had 2 cheeks weighing in at 1.25 pounds. Net cost per pound $14. Yikes! Plan to cook tomorrow but that's too expensive.
It's like bbq caviar!
Definitely going to give this a try
Great video I love how u break it down. Do you have to do a hold over 12 hrs could u get it with a 4 hour rest at 150 in the pellet smoker
Beef cheeks are on my list to try soon. I'm excited to test out your rub on them!
Hi Steve, i was just wondering, if you could combine aspects and traits of brisket and beef cheeks, what would you combine?
If beef cheeks were 10x bigger and had a fat cap haha
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ thank you for the response 😄 great work as always
Where do you buy beef cheeks in Calgary?
Backyardmeats.ca
Great video! I'm definitely going to try this. Noob question, can the beef tallow be reused?
You can filter it or mix some gelatin/water mixture in it to clean it. Similar to how you clean fry oil. But is it worth it? Depends
yes.... yes it's better. Made this last week and was blown away. Hard to find good beef cheeks though.
I'm excited about the size of this cut. A brisket is a lot of meat for 2 people.
If you were to do it again, how would you adjust your sous vide time/temp?
You mentioned Brad's went to 190 and then sous vide at 175 overnight. Whereas it sounds like you never exposed the sous vide cuts to anything over what the smoker produces (165-175) as you sous vide at 150. Feels like one of your temps should be higher... but not sure which.
Probably up to 190 first, maybe foil boated after 165. Then sv at 150 for 15 hours. Or smoked to 165 then svd at 170 for 12 hours. Would needto experiment with it to find the right combo
How much are these a pound and how much did you pay for the ones from LeRoy and Lewis? I might have a niche market in Delaware.
They seem to sell them at Sams club,but a lot od bad reviews about too much fat(didnt look like what you had) any recommendations?
Looks like oxtails has also met it’s match
It reminded me of oxtails
I tried this cut of meat ounce upon a time. I tried frying it. Stunk up the whole apartment. The taste was not bad. Nor was it great. I will try this smoked method.
Dmmmmmt thought the dirty star was real for 2.3 seconds !! Heheheehhehee hope all is well Mr. Steve !!!
Steve, I own a Masterbuilt electric smoker and have been subscribed for a while now. I wanted to know if it's worth it to upgrade like to a pellet smoker? You could do a video on the benefits of either one.
I think you can do much more with a pellet grill. Worth the upgrade for sure but keep both! The MES cooks with a much more humid environment which can be good for some meats.
Great video
Why not take to 190 and hot hold like you do for brisket?
I think they really need to get to that higher temp to properly render all the collagen.
Hey Steve,
I tried looking but didn't catch it. By chance have you done a test on whether seasoning the night before is better than before the cook? Thanks
I have not! That would be a good one!
Wonder if you can make burnt ends with them
Just cube it up and it's pretty much burnt ends
Did you meet Brad when you were down there?
No schedules didn't work. Next time
Love beef cheeks, however they are very rich and a little goes a long way.
damn, you gonna make beef cheeks price go up.
They are so high already lol
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ $5 a pound. Not so bad.
I like to take mine to 210 to pull apart. Then eat them like tacos.
Nice!
What size hotel pan are you using for 4 cheeks? I need this in my life. I wish you’d tried the sous vide around 175 or so. I’d like to know what it takes to get the proper render from sous vide, because that takes a lot less tallow
Make some barbacoa tacos with those.
That would be next level
Did you try the bacon rib?
No unfortunately. Next time!
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ I will try it one day.
I've always been a fan of beef cheeks, but have braised them in the past because I wasn't sure how to smoke them. This is going to happen... and probably soon!
Guga has always found that any fats in your Sous Vide bag with Beef seems to wash out the Beefy flavor. Was surprised to see you say they seem more Beefy.
I find the lower the temp the beef is taken to, the more beefy it tastes
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ That actually makes a lot of sense. Guga is cooking raw meat to temp while you are taking already smoked cooked meat and simply holding with great fats along with it. Awesome brother!
They look great. Confit is a preservation method. I don't understand why Evan moves the cheeks to cook in confit, midway. I don't get it why he does not continue cooking like a brisket. In a foil boat, such as he cooks the briskets. Or wrap with some tallow.
A foil Texas crutch will probably result in a very similar flavor profile compared to the confit method. Might be worth doing a comparison. In a commercial setting he has got ample access to tallow. I suppose he finds it more practical tossing the cheeks in a pan full of tallow, rather then messing around wrapping piece by piece.
I thought the same thing. Why not just foil them. But there's something about slow cooking in liquid fat. It definitely preserves the bark better. It may hold more moisture in. Worth an experiment for sure.
For Evan, it's about preserving pit space and timing. This is one factor as to why he rarely does brisket as well. He also precooks his burgers, cools them and then reheats for service. It's smart.
@@joshwilkinson9350 Yes, it takes time to wrap, and it is space saving to stack the beef cheeks in pans. I am curious about precooking burgers and holding for over 30 minutes or so. Unless he holds them in low temperature confit bath. I am in the trade, I don't allow precooking burgers, unless we are very near rush hour., if the burgers sit a bit too long, with throw them into the pot of chili.
They stay juicier for longer in fat. We dont boat them because cheeks dont have a fat cap. Also the burgers are not cooled before searing for service 👍👍
@LeRoyandLewisBBQ maybe I am remembering wrong. I have watched a video of you talking about cooking burgers pre-service and then searing on the grill to order. Perhaps they went straight from the pit to the holding cabinet. Apologies if I got it wrong. There's way to may hours of footage to go back and find the specific clip.
Where did you get your beef cheeks in Calgary?
Backyard meats
@@SmokeTrailsBBQ thank you. They look amazing!
It is barbacoa
I was offered pig cheeks by a butcher and informed there is a gland that must be removed. Is it the same with this beef cheeks?
Beef cheek tacos are the best!
Buy already trimmed beef cheeks. Your knives will thank you.
This has to be a health food. Collagen is great for joints. I need these.
It's the next super food. Move over kale and blueberries, make way for beef cheeks 🤣
Heck yeah - BTW, we love the rub. We did a short video review of it and left you a review on Amazon. Home run! @@SmokeTrailsBBQ
CABEZA!!!!!
It is better. Much easier to cook. More bark area for same amount of meat. Can't go wrong. If only they weren't now so expensive! They used to be a cheap discarded cut.
Yea not as much bang for buck as brisket but soo good
Where I grew up, brisket was the cheap discarded cut,. Moved to Texas and was genuinely surprised to find people eat the stuff.
Cheeks and Shortrib are better than Brisket.
Perfect Brisket is great but a slightly-better-than-mediocre Shortrib or Cheek is better than most brisket.
You just have to look at them.
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That's a lot of work. A holding oven???😒
i think beef cheeks and beef ribs are better than brisket
Be original please. You keep stealing other peoples ideas and trying to make them better or your own. Do something that’s original.
Thanks for your feedback Tim. I'm a huge fan of texas bbq and I like covering stuff like this. I see interesting ideas and I think "that's really cool, I want to try that. And I wonder what would happen if I did this?" just like any bbq hobbiest. I think people really enjoy this type of content for that reason.
So basically, you’re gonna steal their idea
That's cold. Steve has literally given L&L and all other creators credit for everything.
@@m9hrdad . Facts don’t care about feelings. 🐑