Mary’s Shin of Beef

Often our favourite food in the world comes from deep within our soul. They tend to be influenced by childhood memories. When you retrieve them, they stir deep emotions within you, remembering not just taste but the memory of gave you this. We all carry those recipes, the ones that your Mum or Gran used to make without every using a recipe.

In The Curse of Gluttony, our lead character is the enigmatic Olivia Johnson, a feisty lowland Scot who was born to feed. Sadly, she loses her Mum due to the dreaded cancer. Faced with having to make a dish for the redemption dinner she recalls how our Mum used to make a sensational shin of beef. It seems the right way to honour her memory.

Now the trick when trying to emulate this is ‘slowly, slowly, slowly’. Get the slow cooker out troops.

Ingredients

2kg of beef shin ( get the best you can afford)

2 x white onions

3 x large carrots

1 x jar of anchovies

300g of Mushrooms (whatever you prefer)

2x bay leaves

A big squeeze of tomato puree

400ml of red wine

Salt and Pepper 

1.      Slice the onions and cook in some oil until golden brown. Squeeze in the anchovies by hand. Remove all from the pan, and reserve.

2.      Brown the shin of beef on all sides.

3.      Use a glug of wine to de-glaze the pan. Add the carrots and cook for five minutes. Now add the onions, carrots and the beef to the slow cooker.

4.      Pour the rest of the wine in to a jug and whisk in the flour until smooth. Add to the beef.

5.      Add the tomato puree, bay leaves, and salt and pepper. Cover with enough water until the meat is covered. Cook for 8-10 hours on a low/med setting on the slow cooker.

Then hey presto, it’s off to heaven.

Our wine sommelier in The Curse of Gluttony is Ben. He recommends it with a big punchy Malbec from Argentina.