Sous Vide Beef Cheeks with Sherry Sauce

Method

1. Pour the red wine and sherry into a wide saucepan and simmer over low heat for 25–30 minutes, until reduced by half, to about 375 ml.
2. Heat the oven to 150°C (300°F).
3. Trim the outer fat and the shiny silver membrane from the cheeks, leaving the meat in one piece.
4. Season the cheeks well with salt and pepper.
5. Dust the cheeks with the flour and shake off the excess.
6. Heat the olive oil with the star anise in the casserole over medium heat for 1 minute, until the anise smells sweet.
7. Brown the cheeks for 3–4 minutes on each side, until deep golden; do it in two batches if they don't fit with space around them.
8. Pour the wine reduction over the cheeks.
9. Add stock until the liquid comes about halfway up the meat, and bring to a simmer.
10. Press a sheet of baking paper onto the surface, cover with the lid and put the casserole in the oven.
11. Braise for 3½–4 hours, turning the cheeks once halfway, until a fork slides in with no resistance and the meat starts to come apart.
12. While the cheeks braise, peel the potatoes and cut them into sticks 9 mm (⅜ in) thick.
13. Soak the sticks in iced water for 20 minutes.
14. Bring a large saucepan of water with 1 tbsp of salt to the boil, add the sticks and simmer gently for 6–10 minutes, until a knife slides in easily and the edges start to look fuzzy.
15. Lift the sticks out carefully with a slotted spoon onto a tray lined with a clean towel and let them steam dry for 10 minutes.
16. Freeze the sticks on the tray, uncovered, for 1 hour.
17. Heat the frying oil in the deep pot to 150°C (300°F); the pot should be no more than one-third full.
18. Fry the sticks in batches for 5 minutes, until a pale crust forms but they have not coloured.
19. Drain on paper towels, let them cool and return them to the freezer for at least 30 minutes.
20. When the cheeks are done, lift them onto a plate and cover with foil.
21. Skim the fat off the braising liquid, then boil it for 5–10 minutes, until it coats the back of a spoon; taste and add salt if needed.
22. Return the cheeks to the sauce, off the heat, to keep warm.
23. Heat the cast-iron skillet over high heat until it smokes and char the scallions for 4–6 minutes, turning, until blackened in patches and soft.
24. Peel off the burnt outer layer of the scallions, drizzle with 1 tbsp of olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.
25. Reheat the frying oil to 180°C (355°F) and fry the frozen sticks in batches for 4–5 minutes, until deep golden and crisp.
26. Drain the fries on paper towels and sprinkle with flaky salt.
27. Wipe the skillet, heat the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil over high heat and fry the peppers for 3–4 minutes, tossing, until blistered and soft; sprinkle with sea salt.
28. Make a bed of fries on each plate, set a cheek on top and spoon over a little sauce.
29. Pour the rest of the sauce into small glasses, stand the scallions in them and scatter the peppers around the plates.

1. Perfect Fries
2. Peel & wash the potatoes.
3. Cut them into sticks of 0.9 mm square section and soak them in iced water for 20 minutes
4. Simmer the sticks in salted water for 20 minutes, then take them out and dry properly to be placed in the freezer for 1 hour.
5. After 1 hour in the freezer, fry them at 150 Celsius for 5 minutes, dry and freeze them.
6. When serving, take fries out of the freezer and fry at 180 Celsius for 5 minutes, dry with paper towel then sprinkle with salt.
7. Padron Pepper
8. Last minute, fry them in olive oil until tender, dry then sprinkle with sea salt.
9. Scallion
10. Char grill Scallion in direct flame until tender.
11. Peel the outside burned layer.
12. Sprinkle with olive oil and sea salt.
13. Beef Cheeks
14. Mix both wines and simmer them in very slow fire until reduced by half.
15. Trim the fat excess from the beef cheeks.
16. Add salt and pepper to the beef cheeks, and coat them in flour.
17. In a frying pan, add olive oil and star anise, set to medium fire.
18. When hot, fry the cheeks until golden, then, let them cool down in the fridge.
19. In a big vacuum bag (cooking suitable) place the beef cheeks with the wine reduction, and vacuum seal at 99%.
20. Prepare a water bath at 82.5 Celsius (constant temperature) and cook the beef cheek for 8 hours.
21. When ready, take the beef cheeks out of the bath and reduce the sauce left inside the bag.
22. Assemble
23. As simple as the picture, make a fries bed to place the beef cheek on top with a bit of sauce. Place the remaining sauce in a glass and put the scallions inside.
24. Then, place the glass next to the beef cheeks, and distribute the padron peppers randomly.

The dish in the photograph was cooked by the restaurant for this story. Photo: Oleksandr Slyadnyev.