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.