• 3 pounds boned beef shank
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 8 ounce piece of salt pork, pancetta, or bacon cut into 3/4 inch chunks
• 3 1/2 ounces pork or bacon rind, cut into 3/4 inch squares
• 2 cups white wine
• About 2 cups water or light beef stock
• 1 onion
• 4 cloves
• 4 garlic cloves, bashed with the side of a knife
• 2 bay leaves
• A couple of sprigs of thyme
• 2 or 3 strips finely pared orange zest
• 2 carrots, cut into big chunks
• 3 celery stalks, cut into 2 inch lengths
• 1 pound tomatoes, skinned, deseeded, and chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Cut the beef into larger-than-you-think, not-too-boringly-square pieces, trimming off some, but not all, of the fat as you go.

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan.  Fry the bacon and the pork or bacon rind until lightly browned (but not crisp).  Remove with a slotted spoon and place in a large casserole.  In the same oil, brown the beef, in 2 or 3 batches, and then transfer to the casserole.

Deglaze the frying pan with a little of the wine, then add the rest of the wine, heat until it boils, and pour it over the meat.  Heat up the water or stock in the same way and pour that over too - enough to cover the meat by a good 3/4 inch.

Cut the onion in half and stick each half with 2 cloves, then add to the casserole along with the garlic, herbs, orange zest, carrots, celery, and tomatoes.  Season, gong easy on the salt for the time being (remember the bacon will give up slat to the pot).  Bring to a very gentle simmer and maintain it, either on the stove top over a very low heat or in the oven at 250°F, for 3 to 4 hours, until he meat is completely tender.  At this point the stew can be cooled, and kept in the fridge for a day or two, which, as ever, would be no bad thing.

To serve the stew, make sure it is thoroughly hot - if it has been left to cool - and check the seasoning.  Remove the onion (unless any of your guests fancies half an onion).  Ladle the stew into deep plates or wide bowls, with plenty of the juice (which in this stew is meant to be thin and copious, rather than thick and reduced).  You could serve it with potatoes - boiled, baked, or mashed.  Or (an I rather like this option) with macaroni or some other noodly pasta, precooked and stirred into the daube a couple of minutes before you ladle it out.

Serves: 6

Reprinted with permission from ©2004, 2007 Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, The River Cottage Meat Book, published by Ten Speed Press .  click for book review

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