Slow cooked shin of beef stew

1 kilo of shin of beef

Flour

1 Teaspoon of Chinese 5 spice

Salt

Pepper

250 grammes of Button mushrooms

2 medium Carrots

1 red onion Onion

1 stick of Celery

Olive oil

Half a bottle of Red wine

Half a liter of Beef stock

Fish sauce

Bay Leaf

Thyme

Cube the beef into sizes slightly bigger than the mushrooms and toss in seasoned flour along with Chinese 5 spice. Brown them off in a heavy based dish on a high heat, don’t add them all at once as the heat will drop and the meat will boil rather than caramelise. When it’s got some nice crispy edges, remove the meat and set aside. Deglaze the pan with some white wine, scraping off all the lovely caramelised meaty bits and decant. Add some olive oil, along with the finely chopped onion and celery. Cover and let them cook down till gooey. Add the button mushrooms whole and sliced carrots, then add back in the meat, the deglazed juices, and the bay leaf and thyme. Give it all a good stir and add in the half bottle of red wine, keeping a glug for you of course, along with the beef stock and a good dash of fish sauce. You may revile at the thought of the latter in your traditional stew, but both McGee and Blumenthal say, and I’d agree with them, that the fish sauce and the aniseed in the 5 spice help to accentuate the umami flavour and thus make your beef stew taste more, um, beefy.

Cover and reduce the heat to a glimmer and allow to cook for 2 hours. Then remove the lid and allow to cook for another half an hour to help the sauce reduce.

Serve with a wholegrain mustard mash and forget about the weather.