Beef shin potjie

Name: Beef shin potjie
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 3 h
Total time: 3 h 30 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: South African
Ingredients: 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) beef shin on the bone, cut into thick pieces; 3 tablespoons flour; 3 tablespoons oil; 2 onions, chopped; 4 cloves garlic, chopped; 2 tablespoons tomato paste; 250 ml (1 cup) dry red wine; 500 ml (2 cups) beef stock; 2 bay leaves; 4 sprigs thyme; 2 teaspoons salt; 1 teaspoon black pepper; 4 carrots, cut into thick chunks; 500 g (1.1 lb) baby potatoes; 250 g (9 oz) mushrooms, halved; 200 g (7 oz) green beans, trimmed

Beef shin simmered for three hours in a cast-iron pot with red wine, then layered with vegetables and left alone.

Coals: Low coals
Prep: 30 min
On the fire: 3 hr
Serves: 6

Ingredients

1.5 kg (3.3 lb) beef shin on the bone, cut into thick pieces
3 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons oil
2 onions, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
250 ml (1 cup) dry red wine
500 ml (2 cups) beef stock
2 bay leaves
4 sprigs thyme
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Vegetables, in the order they go in

4 carrots, cut into thick chunks
500 g (1.1 lb) baby potatoes
250 g (9 oz) mushrooms, halved
200 g (7 oz) green beans, trimmed

Method

Set a No. 3 potjie over a small pile of hot coals. Dust the beef with the flour, salt and pepper.
Heat the oil and brown the beef in two batches, about 5 minutes a batch. Lift it out.
Cook the onions in the same pot for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and tomato paste and stir for 1 minute.
Return the beef. Add the wine, stock, bay leaves and thyme. The liquid should come about three quarters of the way up the meat.
Put the lid on. Scrape most of the coals away so only a few remain under the pot, and simmer gently for 2 hours. Add two or three fresh coals every 20 minutes or so.
Layer the vegetables on top of the meat without stirring: carrots first, then potatoes, then mushrooms, then green beans.
Replace the lid and cook for 45 to 60 minutes more. Do not stir.
Take the pot off the coals and let it stand for 10 minutes. Serve from the pot with rice or pap.

Done when: the beef pulls away from the bone with a spoon and the potatoes are soft when pierced.

Tips

Listen to the pot. A slow, steady bubbling is right. If it is rattling, pull coals away.
Lift the lid as little as possible. If the pot looks dry, add a splash of hot stock down the side.
A potjie is never stirred once the vegetables are in. The layers steam in order, and stirring turns them to mush.
A heavy cast-iron Dutch oven over coals does the same job.

Potjiekos means small-pot food. It is cooked in a round, three-legged cast-iron pot that stands directly over the coals. The cooking is slow and needs very little heat.