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Shin Meat En Casserole
2 pounds shinbone 2 cups carrots 1/2 cup onion 1 cup celery 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup boiling water 1/2 saltspoon pepper 2 tablespoons flour Cut the meat from the bone in two-inch pieces; remove the marrow from bone. Put part of the marrow into the bottom of the casserole, then half the meat, half the vegetables, the rest of meat and seasoning and the marrow over the top; place in hot oven twenty minutes, covered. Add one cup boiling water; cover; reduce the heat and let bake slowly two and a half hours, or until tender, in bottom of oven. Once or twice water must be added. When the meat is tender, add the flour mixed with a little cold water.
A plain braise of beef shin, thickened at the end with a flour slurry. The instructions are sound; only the oven language and a few measures need translating.
- The cut"Shinbone" means beef shin or foreshank, bone in. Two pounds bone-in yields roughly a pound and a quarter of meat once trimmed, so buy accordingly, or use 1 1/2 lb boneless shank plus a marrowbone or two.
- Oven temperaturesA "hot oven" for the first twenty minutes is roughly 400-450F; since the dish is covered and no browning is called for, this seems to be about bringing it up to heat. "Bake slowly" afterwards is about 300-325F, which is where collagen-heavy shin wants to sit.
- SaltspoonA saltspoon is a quarter teaspoon, so half of one is a scant eighth of a teaspoon of pepper. Season again at the end; long braising dulls pepper.
- CasseroleIn a book of this date the casserole is a covered earthenware or fireproof china dish that goes to the table. A Dutch oven or any lidded ovenproof pot does the same job.
- The marrowMarrow is the fat in this dish, and the reason no oil or butter appears. Push it out of the split bone with your thumb or a knife handle; it renders into the liquid and enriches it. If your butcher will not split the bone, ask for a couple of ounces of marrow separately.
- Vegetable sizeCut carrots, onion and celery in pieces of about an inch. Anything smaller disintegrates over two and a half hours and the dish goes muddy.
- LiquidOne cup of boiling water plus the top-ups is deliberately little; this is a braise, not a stew, and the meat should not be submerged. Check every 45 minutes and add just enough to keep an inch of liquid in the bottom.
- ThickeningThe flour and cold water must be stirred in and then cooked on the stovetop or back in the oven for a good five to ten minutes. Flour added and served immediately tastes raw and pasty.
- YieldServes four with potatoes or bread.
Shin is the hardest-working muscle on the animal and was priced accordingly; cookbooks of the early twentieth century return to it constantly because it fed a family cheaply and, given time, tasted better than the tender cuts. The marrow trick here is characteristic of the period's economy - the bone is not merely a flavouring to be discarded but a source of fat that saves buying butter or drippings.