How to Cook Braised Shin of Beef
Serves: 6
Preparation time: overnight
Cooking time: 3 hours
Ingredients needed to make Braised Shin of Beef:
- 8 oz beef shin
- 7 oz onion, coarsely chopped
- 5 oz carrots, coarsely chopped
- 3 oz fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- 5 oz celery, coarsely chopped
- 1 bunch thyme sprigs
- 1 pint 6 fl oz, red wine
- 2 ½ pins beef stock
- 1 tbsp whole white peppercorns
- 1 whole clove
- 5 bay leaves
- 3 tsp salt
Cooking instructions for Braised Shin of Beef:
- Throw in the beef shins into a bowl and drizzle the red wine over it.
- Put a lid on and set aside in the fridge for overnight to let it marinate.
- Tip the marinated beef into a fine mesh sieve to drain them out and blot them dry with paper towels; reserve the marinade.
- Warm up your oven to 325 degrees F.
- Pour the marinade into a saucepan and bring it to a boil.
- Skim off any foam which appears on the surface while doing so.
- Heat a large casserole dish until it turns moderately hot ad drizzle a lashing of vegetable oil across its base.
- Throw in the veggies and sauté, stirring often, until they brown evenly.
- Place the beef shins in another skillet, greased with small amount of oil and stir fry until it browns nicely.
- Pass them through a colander and discard the strained out excess fat.
- Add the meat to the browned veggies and pour in the boiled red wine, followed by the beef stock.
- Stir them all together and drop the clove, bay leaves, thyme sprigs, peppercorns and a dash of salt.
- Continue to cook the mixture until it begins to simmer and continue to do so for a couple of minutes.
- Place a lid on top and cook it in the oven for 2 ½ hours to braise.
- Take it out of the oven and set aside until it cools down.
- Lift the shins from the cooking liquid using tongs into an ovenproof dish and strain the latter through a fine mesh strainer into a saucepan.
- Do away with any excess fat floating on the surface of the strained liquid and cook it over moderate flame until it is reduced to half its original volume.
- Spoon a small amount of the reduced sauce over the meat and reheat it in the oven briefly.
- Arrange the meat across the serving plates and spoon the sauce over it.
- Serve warm.
Image credit: Wikimedia Commons
