EATFIEND: Meeeeeeeat!

So I've been eating this grass-fed beef from a local farm by the name of Marin Sun Farms. I get it at Berkeley Bowl, but I recently discovered that they have a Butcher's shop in Rockridge. So I paid them a little visit...

The bag was a little crumpled as I was clawing on and gnawing at it on the way home.

Below is the spread...

Clockwise from left: Jowel Bacon (a rarity that I'm stoked to find), pastured eggs, Beef Cheek and Chicken thighs. Not pictured is a sirloin tip steak that will follow...

For starters, the Beef Cheek. This was just a little extra as my boss has been complaining that his wife and daughters don't eat meat, so I got something we could chow down on at work before the ol' ball and chain shoved a salad down his throat.

It was blurry when I got it, that's not just the picture.

Seared that bitch up real nice with salt and pepper...

Sauteed some veg up in the drippings. Even the onions and carrots were angry about how tasty this meat is.

Added some tomato paste and left that over the heat with the veg for a while to develop the flavor. Wine is key in this preparation...

Because it tastes better when you're drinking. Just a note, my phone has this picture timestamped at 11:12 am. Livin' the Garbage Life...

Oh, right, also the wine goes in the braising liquid, whatever one doesn't drink, that is.

I seem to be missing a few pictures, but I added stock and braised it for about 2.5 hours. Sliced it beautifully and tossed it in the braising liquid. Of course, you'll have to use your imagination for the rest of that, because I'm an idiot.

Next up, the Jowel Bacon. I had to try a bit of it while the Beef Cheek was braising...

Yummmmm....

So delicious. For those Eatfiends not in the know, the Jowl come from the lower part of the pig's head. Visible below...

Also visible on Sir Paul here...

Man, that guy is Jowly. I'll bet he tastes delicious, too. If anyone wants to go halvsies on some Paul McCartney cuts, let me know. Vegetarian asshat.

Next up, the Sirloin Tip!

Searing in the cast-iron.

I kept it out of the broiler this time. Apparently grass-fed meats have more unsaturated fats that would be destroyed by the high heat of a broiler, so it's supposed to be pan-searing all the way. It's been out of this world every time.

Resting on a cooling rack. It looks like the left half of Africa, minus the loser countries (Sudan, Somalia, Ethiopa, and notably absent is Egypt).

Finally, the chicken!

Chicken thighs always just look like chicken thighs! Why the picture? Fucked if I know!

Simple marinade: Extra chicken stock I thawed for the beef cheek braise, tomato paste, smoked salt, some pimenton de la vera.

Left to marinade overnight...

And braised for about 1.5 hours.

Seen here resting after braise...

Chicken seen here pulling off the bone with the most minimal effort.

Now for anyone out there looking to try this at home, this next part is the hardest. You need to pay very close attention taking it off the bone, and if you do it right, it should look something like this...