The texture difference would probably make this a failure, but I do appreciate the tongue-in-cheek comment 
Speaking of tongue, anyone have recommendations for how to prepare? I’ve never done this one myself.
I usually do somewhere in the ballpark of 140°F for 24 hours. I will cook it in an Irish style red beer, bay leaf, roasted garlic, and let it go.
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Hello everybody
I m Frederic from France.
we bought our Anova in June and we’re happy with it.
My wife needs to strictly follow SCD and Low Fodmap diet.
I bought a nice organic grass fed beef cheek and I wanted to try the recipe 72 Hours 54°C.
So I followed everything, plunged the sealed bag in a boiling pan etc…
But when I opened the bag a vey bad smell came from the meat.
So I did not even try to taste it because I was a too afraid.
I m a good cook and I cook for long time and I did my "Foie gras " for Christmas with the Anova.
I have cooked slow temp recipes many times.
I was a bit worried with the temperature used because 54° is very low …maybe too low not enough his for killing bacteria??
I always control my temperature with an old fashioned glass thermometer.
I m very disappointed that I had to throw away the meat.
Has anybody else tried this recipe.
Maybe 60° is safer…
HAVE A GOOD DAY
Frederic
Bonjour @Fredo67!
You did nothing wrong. The problem you’ve experienced is called Autolysis.
Autolysis is the natural breakdown of the meat by its own enzymes. I had the exact same thing happen to me 2 weeks ago when I cooked beef cheeks for 60+ hours at 56.5C
There’s always a chance autolysis might spoil your cook… I think the fresher the meat the less chance it will occur.
Personally I will be trying beef cheeks again using the same time and temp. I just hope next time I’ll be more lucky!.
Here is an article that speaks to the smell and how to avoid it. I cannot speak to the data he presents as this is not my field of expertise.
That post is the typical one you see telling you to dunk things in boiling water and blaming everything on Lactobascillus bloom. Logic alone should tell you that it can’t be caused by bacteria. Lactobascillus particularly will be rendered inactive within about 10 minutes of the meat hitting the water bath (assuming that you heat the bath first… This is why I will always recommend putting meat into a bath that is already up to temperature) and dead within the first hour. The grey-green bloom and mild funk is caused by myoglobin breakdown not by Lactobascillus. Any strong smells will be the result of autolytic action on the meat.
Hi Ember, I had 4 beef cheeks and tried this process.
Ended up 74 hours, as we were late getting home, thank goodness for Wifi on the Anova.
I was a little concerned about the 54c, so took it to 56.1 (131f). I loved them, so did my son, who really enjoys his ribs and other slow cooked proteins. My wife and daughter, however, were a little offput by the redness in the center, more for us I guess. I do not think I seared long enough, but tender as tender can be. Not fall apart like your picture, but well and truely buttery. 74hours was a long time, but well worth the wait… Thank you.
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I recently had a beef cheek in a restaurant that was cooked 15 hrs. It was lovely and pink in the middle and tender, though had a distinct slimy texture to it. Wasn’t very enjoyable as the fat was just chewy and slimy. Was I being fussy? Is slimy normal ?
I wouldn’t call it slimy, but, yes, beef cheek usually comes out with quite a slippery and soft texture. But any fat (most of it should be trimmed off before cooking anyway) shouldn’t be chewy, just soft.
Can’t honestly say that I’ve had any ‘sliminess’ in any cheeks. I wonder if the glands had not been trimmed/removed properly.
Here i am, i have read the previous questions and descriptions and i just did not understand one thing, i guess the most important: how can i be sure of avoid autolysis? And if it happens, drying and searing the cheek can i avert it? Or when it happens it’s unreversable?
Thanks for sharing your aknowlodge
Hi @Giare
Just off the top of my head I’d start first with freshness…
Start your cook immediately after you get whatever you’re going to cook home. I had the beef cheeks that I had go bad in my refrigerator for two days before I had the chance to start my cook. I had not yet opened the vacuum sealed package they came in, and the “expiration date” on them I believe still had a couple weeks to go, but time is a factor. Don’t wait. Get them cooking immediately.
@Mirozen has it. The best protection against uncontrolled autolysis in a long, super slow cook like this is freshness. If you have any doubt at all use a higher temperature, shorter cook. You don’t want to use ‘aged’ meat for a long slow cook.
My butcher calls me on delivery day and if I can’t pick them up they go straight into the freezer. Same if I can’t get them straight in the cooking bath for some reason, into the freezer they go and get cooked from frozen.
There’s no way back from autolysis. If it’s tainted its ‘off.’ No saving it. It is not like the grey/green bloom caused by myoglobin breakdown or the ‘lactobacterial bloom’ that some talk about which are harmless surface phenomena that can be wiped off and do not impact the actual meat itself. Autolysis taint will be through the whole muscle.
@Ember @Mirozen Thank you both. I’ll be back here to give a feedback on the result.
My very last question is about recognizing tha autolysis. As i read is inequivocable because the smell is so nauseating that there is no way you cant’t noticed it right?
Yup. It smells like off meat. Much worse then the slight funk or slight cheesiness described in the other two ‘issues.’
I do think, that 54ºC is very very low for such a long cook. Normally I am doing 57ºC - and only lower for short cooks.
I would not really recommend such a low temperature…
By the way - it is not necessary lactobacillus which is doing the off smell, but also oxidizing fats (etc.). That can be avoided, with anti-oxidant ingredients: like rosemary, mustard (or mustardpowder) and so on.