Smoked and Confit Beef Cheeks

Ingredients

• Beef cheeks
• Kosher salt, for the dry brine
• Yellow mustard, as a binder
• Coarse black pepper
• Beef tallow (rendered from ground suet), enough to submerge the cheeks
• Apple cider vinegar, for spritzing

Directions

• Trim the exterior silver skin off the beef cheeks so the smoke can penetrate. Dry-brine overnight with kosher salt.
• Before smoking, coat the cheeks with yellow mustard and a heavy layer of coarse black pepper.
• Render the beef tallow: cook ground suet (clean kidney fat) low and slow with water and salt, then strain and cool. The water and salt pull impurities to the bottom.
• Smoke the cheeks for 4 hours on an offset smoker with pecan wood at 225-250F, spritzing every 30 minutes with apple cider vinegar so they don't dry out.
• Preheat the tallow bath so it's ready when the cheeks come off the smoker. Submerge the cheeks and confit for 6 hours in the oven at 225F.
• Rest in the bath for 1 hour, then briefly drain on a wire rack.
• Serve like baby briskets, in tacos, or in pastrami-style sandwiches.

A 10-hour cook inspired by @leroyandlewis. From beefbaecon on Instagram.