Braised Beef Shin

This is my first slow cook of the autumn. I see I wrote a variation of this six or so years ago, one which I will now denounce as being unnecessarily complicated.

I've written so many stew/casserole/daube recipes now that I feel something of a fraud as they are all so similar. I'll justify today's on two counts. Firstly, it's autumn again, and secondly it's proof of how something so cheap and simple can be so tasty.

Let's distinguish this from other stews, especially chicken ones. There you really need your wine and then your stock. As it happens I had about a third of a bottle of wine left over (a rarity, I know), so that went in. But the absence of stock? Let's examine the main ingredient, Shin meat, the hardest working muscle in the body. Tough as hell, and held together with collagen. That's what forms the dense structural fibres of the connective tissues. A long slow cook will release these. You don't need stock for this dish - you're making your own.

In my precious recipe I added a lot more veg. These days I think the braise should contain the basics only. Have your extra veg as side dishes for colour and delight.

Braised shin of beef (the way I made it last weekend)

All measurements are approximate

About 800g shin of beef (buy it in slices off the bone); quantity of seasoned flour (plain flour mixed with some salt and black pepper); 1 large onion, chopped; 4 or 5 small carrots, peeled and chopped; about 3 rashers of streaky bacon, cut into small pieces; about 250ml red wine; good squeeze of tomato purée; 1 garlic clove, crushed; 1 bay leaf; 1 tsp dried thyme; s & p; oil; butter.

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Preheat the oven to 150C/Mark 2. Cut the beef into large chunks, 5 - 6cm. Dust lightly in the seasoned flour. Brown the meat in the oil. Do this in batches, being careful not to burn. Set to one side. Next you want to brown the veg. but your pan may be getting dangerously brown. If so, deglaze with a little of the wine. Then brown (yes I do mean brown) the veg and lightly cook the bacon at the same time.

Return the beef to the pan. Stir in the tomato purée and let it cook for a minute or two. Add the wine, if using and let it bubble for a couple of minutes. Add enough water to cover the meat. Chuck in the garlic, bay leaf and thyme and season lightly with s & p.

Although you'll be cooking with a lid on, I would recommend a cartouche*. Unless you stir regularly (and who can be bothered?) the bits of meat above the level of the liquid may become leathery.

After two hours, check and give it a stir. The meat will need between three and four hours to become tender. When the meat is ready, strain the liquid into a clean pan and boil rapidly to reduce. This will enhance the flavour, and eliminate one of my pet hates, ie runny gravy. When the liquid is at your desired consistency, stir in some pieces of cold butter to give the sauce a nice sheen. Check the seasoning, then reunite meat and sauce.

This may be more than you need. I have a dislike of eating the same dinner two days in a row. For variety, a couple of days later I put the leftovers in a pie dish and added a layer of puff pastry. Beef shin pie. Lovely!

*A cartouche is a piece of greaseproof paper which you put on top of the stew. For more detail and to learn how to make one, see the video  here.