jakesterUK

Erm, why are they serving Braised Cow's Cheek in Business? I selected it because it sounded interesting, well it was certainly interesting, but not to my taste and far more chewy than I had expected (don't really know what I thought it would be like!). The cut of meat itself would be more at home in a can of dog food.

Anyway, I'm not going to whine on about it or request compensation, but am I alone in thinking this is an odd choice? The meal would actually have been very tasty and even enjoyable if it hadn't been for this particular cut of meat.

So, nothing to do with FFP's but very much to do with my enjoyment of my last Qantas flight. Incidentally, this was on the QF72 from Singapore to Perth a couple of weeks ago, and was served as lunch.

Oh, and my partner had the same meal and we thought the same - and that is quite unusual as he will eat anything and has no taste buds (from 27 years of smoking)...

Discuss (if you feel like it)!

eoinnz

This would be the Malay Style Spice Braised Beef Cheek with Stir Fried Vegetables and Fragrant Rice.

I operated out of Singapore last weekend - I've never seen so many meals not eaten, or sent back and another selection made as I have with this meal choice.

Very very chewy indeed!

graraps

this cut, not unlike brisket, can be very good if slow-cooked. I guess not a lot of airplane meals have been slow-cooked...

Brettmcg

Beef cheeks are generally tough, fatty and gelatinous and require lengthy cooking. After all, cows do two things to exercises those cheeks that insure their toughness. They chew cud, and moo each time cold fingers grab their udders.

No butcher has devised a substitute name for cheeks as they have done for other body parts. Cheeks are just called cheeks.

Go to fine French restaurants and eat pancreas and thymus. You're eating sweetbreads. Eat another creature's stomach, and dine on tripe. The part of the cow just behind the genitals is called flank.

Pork cheek on the other hand is delicious if prepared well. Especially in the form of Guanciale^

og

I'm now seriously thinking of going 100% veg.

Blackcloud

Hmmm....
Tempeh or Quorn anyone
Thankfully I have the vegetarian dietary preference but I would never have ordered the beef cheeks.

Brettmcg

Oh come on! We are born with incisors and canine teeth for a reason

grov

In sunny, vibrant Perth we have an excellent French restaurant that prepares a very good cheek dish. So if properly cooked, it can be very tasty.

perthite

If we weren't supposed to eat meat, then they would not have made animals so tasty.

tuapekastar

I did hear someone on the radio say "if God meant us to be vegetarians then why did he* make cows out of meat"?

*Or she, if you prefer

bensyd

My mum makes beef cheeks in Winter as a stew type thing. It's really nice but she stews the meat for hours and it falls apart...very tasty!

I actually think it should be pretty good airplane meal because it can be stewed before hand then reheated...I guess it just wasn't stewed long enough.

vecta

Eeeew. I guess at least there should have been a selection of something different. Doesn't sound as bad as offal...

LTN Phobia

To me, it's not the beef cheek itself that is 'bad' per se - it's bad cooking!
I had beef cheek at one of the good restaurants in London and it was excellent.

Thinking about it, my worst airline meal in the last 10 years was out of Singapore on Qantas too. Maybe the catering company is not very good?

jakesterUK

Based on the replies here, it's fairly clear that it's not the cut of meat that's the problem, it's the fact that it's just not suited to the way food is prepared for reheating on the aircraft. In fact, I'm almost tempted to try cooking it properly myself...

I find that reheating a home cooked beef or lamb dish at home generally results in meat that melts in the mouth, so I assume that it's something to do with the high temperatures that they use to reheat food on the plan that results in it being so tough.

I think Qantas should drop this meal. Having said that (and I'm not a fish eater) the Barramundi that they were also serving looked like someone had vomited on the plate. I should have stayed safe and gone with the chicken, which also sounded nice, but sometimes you just don't want chicken!

sxc

I would say it's probably more that the caterer didn't stew it long enough for it to become soft. It's a meal with lots of gravy, and should actually suit reheating in the air quite well.