Shin of beef

Shin of beef; another cut that fell out of favour because it needs a bit of care in the cooking. Or at least, not so much care as time: it's tough because it's from the leg of the animal, and so has a lot of fibrous connective tissue along with the meat. If it was cooked quickly, it would be distinctly challenging to eat - you'd wear your jaws out gnawing on gristle. But long slow braising breaks down the tough bits and leaves tender meat, rich gelatinous gravy and incredible flavour. Before I'd cooked it I'd heard talk of the great flavour and assumed that might mean 'gruesomely strong flavour' but I was wrong. It is a strong flavour, but a richly beefy and savoury one.

The shin was in one piece. I browned it, put it to rest while I browned some onions and field mushrooms, deglazed with red wine and the last of the gravy from last week's brisket, some rosemary and bay, and the whole thing braised all day in a low oven. It was delicious.

By the way, I do a lot of slow braises. It's a very convenient way to cook - you can get most of the preparation done first thing in the morning, stick it in the oven and forget about it until you want to eat. And it helps you get the best from meat, especially the cheaper cuts. I'm lucky enough to have a (fuel-efficient) Aga-type range cooker. That works very well for the type of cooking I do, but it's by no means essential. You could set a regular oven to around 80-100C (about 175-200F) for a very slow braise, or leave the pot on the hob on a very low flame - or better yet, in terms of fuel economy and convenience, use a slow cooker/crockpot. I'd certainly invest in one if I didn't have a range cooker.