Beef Shin. Thick meat, gelatinous connective tissue, beautiful fat.
Preparation is simply to trim off the excess skin and fat - we don't want our meat swimming in the stuff. Cut into meal sized pieces, wrap and freeze. Each chunk will take a good day to defrost and most of the day to cook, so don't forget that Saturday morning is the start of preparation for this meal!
With the meat defrosted, bleary-eyed on Sunday morning, I simply lay the chunk of meat in a lidded ovenproof Pyrex dish over chopped onion, three bay leaves, four or five garlic cloves, some black pepper and then a pint of beef stock, topped up with water.
... no sealing, no faffing, just get the meat into the oven and get on with your day.
Lid on and into the oven at 125C for the day ...
... yes, the day. The longer and slower this is cooked, the better. The more adventurous amongst us will select a good Belgian brew and have the meat cuddled in beer for the day.
Ready to eat?
Retrieve the meat from the dish, gently as you go, wrapping in kitchen foil and putting back in the oven (now switched off) to keep warm.
Get some veggies steaming through - I went with mashed potato and some Romanesco broccoli.
Strain off the cooking juices, sieve some cassava flour in, whisking as you go and finally, whisk in some butter for a nice sheen.
Serve out and enjoy with a good glass of red wine alongside; Côtes du Rhône, for us.
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