Potjiekos — Layered Beef Shin & Carrots Pot Braise

Ingredients

• 1½ lb Beef Shin, in large chunks
• 3 Carrots, in thick chunks
• 3 Potatoes, in large pieces
• 2 onions, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 cup red wine or stout
• 1 cup stock
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 bay leaves and 4 whole cloves
• 3 tbsp oil
• Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Brown the Beef Shin hard in the oil in a heavy cast-iron pot, working in batches so it sears rather than steams. Set it aside, then soften the onions and garlic in the same fat.
2. Return the meat, add the wine, and scrape the bottom clean. Stir in the tomato paste, sugar, bay, cloves, stock, salt, and pepper. Bring to a bare simmer.
3. Now layer, and layer in the right order: the slowest-cooking vegetable goes on the bottom of the pile and the fastest on top. Pile the Carrots over the meat, then the Potatoes, seasoning each layer as you go. Do not stir from this moment on.
4. Clamp the lid on and cook over very low coals or the smallest burner 75–90 minutes. Resist lifting the lid more than once; every peek costs you steam and 5 minutes.
5. Check that the meat shreds under a fork and the vegetables hold their shape. Only now, at the table, fold everything together once. Serve with rice or pap and the pot juices spooned over.