Crumbed Ox Cheek Terrine - Alan Benson
This terrine from Italy is made with ox cheek, which is cooked very slowly and then covered with breadcrumbs and baked. It's a real Italian family dish.
Cuts of meat such as ox cheek might not appear on many supermarket shelves, but Italian cooks often make use of these cheaper cuts to make a variety of dishes. Remember the traditional food of Rome, for instance, turns off-cuts such as oxtail into main meals – and also features offal (internal organs) such as tripe. In this recipe, which appears here with permission, ox cheek is turned into a terrine that is then baked in the oven. It comes from John Lanzafame’s cookery book Family Italian (pub. Murdoch £18.99).
Crumbed Ox Cheek Terrine - Recipe
terrina di guanciale fritto
Ingredients – Serves 8
- 125 ml (4 fl oz/½ cup) olive oil
- 300 g (10½ oz) ox cheek, cut into 2 cm (¾ inch) thick slices
- 1 small carrot, finely diced
- 1 small stalk celery, finely diced
- 1 small onion, finely diced
- 2 garlic cloves, chopped
- 250 ml (9 fl oz/1cup) white wine
- 150 ml (5 fl oz) chicken stock
- 320 g (11¼ oz/4 cups) fresh breadcrumbs
- 1 large handful flat-leaf (Italian) parsley leaves, chopped
- zest of 1 lemon
- zest of ½ orange
- seasoned plain (all-purpose) flour, for dusting
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling
Method
- Preheat the oven to 170ºC (325ºF/Gas 3). Heat 60 ml (2 fl oz/¼ cup) of the olive oil in a large heavy-based ovenproof saucepan over medium–high heat. Cook the ox cheek until browned all over, then remove from the pan and set aside.
- Add the remaining oil to the pan, along with the vegetables and garlic and cook for 5 minutes or until just softened.
- Add the wine and deglaze the pan, scraping the base to remove any cooked-on pieces and simmer until reduced by two-thirds. Return the cheek to the pan, add the stock and season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Bring to a simmer, then cover and bake for 4 hours or until the meat is very tender. Remove the cheek slices from the pan, then place the pan over low heat and simmer until the liquid is reduced and sticky.
- Return the cheek slices to the pan and turn to coat well. Transfer to a container, cool, then cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 130ºC (250ºF/Gas 1). Process the breadcrumbs, parsley and citrus zest in a food processor until just combined. Spread on a baking tray and bake for 6–8 minutes or until dry but not coloured. Cool, then process again until fine.
- Using a 4–5 cm (1½–2 inch) biscuit cutter, mould the cheek slices into rounds and place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
- Place the seasoned flour, beaten egg and breadcrumb mixture in separate shallow bowls. Dust the cheek pieces in the flour, dip in the egg, allowing the excess to drain, then coat in the breadcrumb mixture. Place back on the tray and refrigerate for 2 hours or until firm.
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF/Gas 4). Bake the rounds for 12–15 minutes or until lightly golden. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil to serve.
Copyright Rebecca Ford. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.
Rebecca Ford - I'm a UK based freelance travel writer and photographer - and the country I most like to visit is Italy. That's not just because of the ...
