It’s no secret that I love beef cheeks. They’re like mini face briskets that melt when cooked right. As we head into St Patrick’s Day this year, I wanted to try a spin on the usual beef and Guinness pie, and bring some cuisines together. Using smoked cheeks which are then braised with Guinness and vegetables, we then top it off with our spin on Irish mash potato, or colcannon.

INGREDIENTS

• 1.5kg – 2kg beef cheeks
• Moonshine BBQ Beef Rub
• 2 x 440 ml cans of Guinness
• 10 medium potatoes
• 2 carrots
• 3 onions
• 2 stalks celery
• Handful of sliced mushrooms
• Plain flour
• Brown sugar
• Scallions
• Salt
• Pepper
• Butter
• Bacon

BEEF AND GUINNESS PIE METHOD

1. Trim the beef cheeks to remove all of the fat and silver skin, and trim any rough stringy edges
2. Season with the BBQ rub. We recommend Moonshine BBQ Beef rub as the flavour works well with the braise
3. Place on a 250F smoker or kettle, adding smoking wood, and close the lid for 4 hours.
4. While the cheeks are smoking, sauté two diced onions, two carrots and two celery stalks for 10 minutes in butter, and add two heaped tablespoons of plain flour, and stir
5. Add sliced mushrooms, stir for a minute, a TBS of brown sugar and the two cans of Guinness. Bring to the boil, then reduce and simmer for 10 minutes.
6. Remove from the heat, cover and set aside
7. After 4 hours, check the cheeks for internal temp. You want to be sitting around 165-175F.
8. Place in a foil tray, pour over the braise and cover tightly with a double layer of foil. Return to the smoker until they probe like butter (another 3 hours approx)
9. To make the colcannon, cut potatoes into quarters and boil in salted water until soft.
10. While they are boiling, cook some bacon until crispy and cool on paper towel. Cook another diced onion and sliced scallions until soft, add the crumbed bacon back to the pan, stir and remove from heat
11. Pass the cooked potato through a ricer, season with salt and pepper, add butter and mash until smooth. Add the onion and bacon mix and stir through.
12. Preheat your oven to 200C
13. Shred the cheeks in the braising liquid, then ladle into serving bowl and top with the mash potato
14. Place in the oven for 20 minutes to crisp the top
15. Remove from oven (CAREFUL – WILL BE HOT), and allow to cool slightly before eating.