- Marinade the beef shin, carrots, onions and the bouquet garni in the beer for 12 to 18 hours, turning after 6 to 9 hours.
- Take the beef shin out of the beer marinade and separate the meat from the carrots and onions. Remove the bouquet garni, and put to one side. Add the stock to the retained beer marinade, then bring to the boil. Skim off any impurities that come to the top.
- Colour the beef shin in the butter and rapeseed oil by frying on a low heat – you want to caramelise the beef but not burn it. Repeat this with the onions and carrots, caramelising nicely.
- Season the beef and the vegetables then place the beef, carrots and onions in a deep roasting tray or dish. Now pour on the warm beer and beef stock mix. Cover with foil and place in the oven at 160 ºc / 140ºc fan / Gas 3 for 4 to 6 hours. The meat should be falling away from the fat and sinews when it is ready.
- When the meat is cooked, pass the juices through a muslin cloth with a colander and pan underneath to catch the beef stock and beer. Skim any fat off this stock. Put 150ml of shin juices to one side for glazing, and reduce the rest of the shin reduction by two thirds. This is the sauce for the beef.
- To glaze the beef, gently heat the butter along with the rapeseed in a preheated pan, adding the broken pieces of beef shin and pouring in the beef shin juices. Keep turning the shin pieces to glaze them gently (baste over any excess butter and juice to get an equal coating). Season with sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.
- To cook the bio-dynamic rye grains, sweat the diced shallots gently in the butter and rapeseed oil and when the shallots are soft, add the thyme sprigs and rye grains. Pour in 750ml of the beef stock, cover with greaseproof paper and put a lid on the saucepan. Keep on a very low heat, stirring occasionally and adding a little beef stock if the rye grains become too dry. When the rye grains are cooked, remove the sprigs of thyme.
- Begin dressing the plate by heating the cooking emulsion (water and butter mixture) in a saucepan and dropping the hogweed shoots into it. Leave them in the emulsion for 1 minute, then take out and place onto kitchen paper and season.
- Gently heat the rye grains and keep hot to one side, and heat the beef shin reduction up and again keep this hot. Put 2 tablespoons of rye grains in the middle of each plate, then place a piece of the now glazed beef shin onto the grains. Arrange the hogweed shoots and other hedgerow greens around the beef and rye grains. Gently spoon some sauce over the beef and serve.
Matt Powell’s slow cooked shin of Welsh Beef with bio-dynamic rye grains, hedgerow plants and beef shin reduction
- Prep time 18 hrs
- Cook time 6 hrs
- Serves 4
Ingredients
- 2kg PGI Welsh Beef shin (one whole joint)
- 3 large carrots
- 3 large onions
- 1 bouquet garni (a bunch of herbs tied together) – thyme, rosemary, marjoram
- 2 bottles of dark beer (Pembrokeshire Catchy Pole works well)
- 1.5l beef stock
- 150g butter
- 2 tbsp rapeseed oil
- Seasoning
For the meat glaze:
- 150ml beef shin juices
- 50g butter
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
- Seasoning
For the bio-dynamic rye grains (optional – you can replace with mash potato):
- 260g organic bio-dynamic rye grains
- 2 diced shallots
- 30g butter
- 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
- 1l beef stock
- 6 sprigs of thyme
- Seasoning