A little while back, I read the book “Hannibal Rising”; which is all about the formative years of Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lector. At one point a teenage Hannibal is getting some culinary lessons from a French Chef. The Chef says that the cheeks of an animal are a delicacy. When you are carving one is supposed to be presented to the lady of the house and the other to the guest of honour.
Now for a while I wondered if this idea was, perhaps, made up by Thomas Harris. After all we butchered our own animals when I was growing up on the farm and I had never heard of such a thing. However, just the other day I attended a wine and food festival. At one of the booths they had beef cheeks. I tried one and found it to be very tasty and surprisingly tender.
Thus, I have been inspired to create a new dish for The Redneck Bar & Grill. A 48-hr. sous-vide beaver cheek with garlic infused puree of root vegetables and a pink-peppercorn demi-glace. Watch for it on the new menu.