Pressure Cooker Korean Beef Cheeks with Mushrooms

Korean Beef Cheeks are ultra-tasty, nutrient dense comfort food. This recipe is gluten free, grain free, paleo, nightshade free and comes with a slow cooker (crockpot) suggestion.

Beef cheeks are a nutrient dense and delicious cut of meat

Beef cheeks have become my favourite cut of meat even though I've only had them a handful of times. There's unfortunately a misconception that the cheeks are a fatty cut, but this is not so. The "fatty" texture that's in the cheeks after the fat has been trimmed is actually gelatin - the cheeks are extremely high in this beneficial substance that contains high levels of amino acids such as glycine, glutamine and proline.

Amino acids are the building blocks of protein and they have a very important role in the body, such as helping to form tissues, neurotransmitters and the collagen in our joints, skin and nails. These specific three amino acids tend to be lacking in modern diets since most people are not eating "nose to tail" as our ancestors did. It's surely a contributor to increasing rates of osteoarthritis and other chronic conditions involving degradation of connective tissue. So, the lesson here is - eat the whole animal so none of it goes to waste and keep your body in tip top shape at the same time. If we eat muscle meats like steak without a second thought, why not eat the cheeks? They are both just different forms of flesh after all.

Winter started only a few short weeks ago here in Sydney, where I live, and beef cheeks haven't been easy to come by. One day I must have gone to 10 different stores to look for them, including butchers and supermarkets. I felt like a crazy person asking the butchers for them - some of them seemed to have no idea what beef cheeks are! One shop assistant even said they are very fatty, but I didn't correct her.
I was lucky enough to finally find the beef cheeks in Aldi as a "special buy" for a great price, so I stocked up. But, of course, I checked again more recently and they don't have any. It really makes you wonder what's being done with the beef cheeks - I guess they're either being exported or ground in to mince, which makes me sad to think what a waste of such a nice cut. I'm jealous of my friends in the northern hemisphere who can access beef cheeks almost year-round it would seem - here in Australia, they are considered a "winter" food only, so we have to wait all year for them, and even then they are hard to find.

What you will love about Korean Beef Cheeks

So, with that little nutrition and sustainability lesson done, let's get to the recipe for Pressure Cooker Korean Beef Cheeks with Mushrooms. The recipe title is a mouthful, and the dish itself is also a delicious mouthful that you'll find hard to resist. It's full of flavour, with the zing of ginger, sweetness from the apple sauce and pear and of course, the all important savoury umami courtesy of tamari and a little fish sauce. Happily, it's easy to pull together with inexpensive ingredients.

Here's a picture of Barney the cat lusting after the beef cheeks as I was photographing this recipe. He knows what's good. Right below that is the recipe!

Someone was really impressed by my cooking skills.

Suggestion for cooking in a slow cooker (crockpot)

Please note: I haven't made this in a slow cooker, but I am confident this recipe can be made that way if that's the equipment you have. I suggest adding 3 extra cups of water, cook on low for 8 hours (leave the cheeks whole after trimming the fat) and then reduce the sauce if necessary at the end on the stovetop (after removing the meat). You may also want to try cooking it in the oven, but I have not tested it using the oven. The beef cheek recipes I've seen online suggest cooking for 3-4 hours on a low temperature, such as 140C.

Pressure Cooker Korean Beef Cheeks with Mushrooms

Gluten free, grain free, paleo, slow cooker option

Pressure Cooker Korean Beef Cheeks with Mushrooms is the perfect winter dish with tons of flavour packed in to the gravy. See notes for  a slow cooker (crock pot option).

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Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Korean

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Slow Cooker (Crockpot) cook time: 8 hours

Total Time: 1 hour 35 minutes

Servings: 4 serves

Author: Allison Jones

Ingredients

Sauce

• 5 cm (2 inch) piece of ginger
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 ripe pear
• 2 medium brown/yellow onions
• 2/3 cup water
• 1/2 cup tamari sauce or coconut aminos for strict Paleo
• 1/2 cup apple sauce sweetened or unsweetened
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon rice vinegar use coconut vinegar or apple cider vinegar for strict Paleo
• 1/2 teaspoon cooking salt

Remaining ingredients

• 1 kg (2 lb.) beef cheeks

To serve

• 4 purple flesh or white flesh sweet potatoes
• 10 white mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Half bunch coriander cilantro
• 1 green onion stalk

Instructions

• Peel the garlic and ginger. Grate the ginger. Peel, core and chop the pear; peel and roughly chop the onions.
• Place all the sauce ingredients in the food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
• Trim the beef cheeks of as much fat as possible.
• Pour the sauce mixture in to the inner bowl of the pressure cooker and then place the beef cheeks on top and submerge them a little - you want to ensure that the sauce is always in contact with the bottom of the bowl.
• For an electric pressure cooker/multicooker, close the lid and seal the vent. Use the manual option to set to high pressure for 80 minutes and then set it to start.
• For a stovetop pressure cooker, lock the lid in place. Over high heat, bring to high pressure. Reduce the heat just enough to maintain high pressure, and cook for 80 minutes.
• While the beef cheeks are cooking, cook the sweet potato. Peel, chop and steam before mashing with some butter, ghee or oil and a little salt.
• Towards the end of the cooking time, slice the mushrooms and then brown them in a pan with some oil. Slice the green onion in to thin slices, wash the coriander and pick the leaves to use as a garnish.
• Once the beef cheeks have finished cooking, allow the pressure to release naturally for 10 minutes and then release any remaining pressure (for a stovetop pressure cooker, you can do this by running it under cold water. Do not do this for an electric cooker!)
• Remove the beef cheeks and set aside. If necessary cut in to smaller pieces depending on how many serves you would like.
• To serve, place beef cheeks in serving bowls with re-heated sweet potato. Pour the sauce around the beef cheeks and potato, place mushrooms and garnishes on top.

Notes

I am confident this recipe can be made in a slow cooker (crock pot) if that's the equipment you have. I suggest adding 1 extra cup of water, cook on low for 8 hours (leave the cheeks whole after trimming the fat) and then reduce the sauce if necessary at the end (after removing the meat).

Equipment: food processor or blender, pressure cooker or slow cooker, knife, chopping board, measuring cups and spoons, silicon spatula.

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