Beef Shin

As we experiment more and more with the slow cooker we are finding yet more cheap cuts of meat to use. The latest discovery is beef shin. A very cheap cut of beef that lends itself to the slow cooking process. As an idea just how cheap it is we recently bought a 5lb bag, which we have portioned up and stuck in the freezer, for just £5, and this is from a proper local butcher who slaughters his own meat in the abattoir adjacent the shop.

It is a cut full of sinew which means it needs a long, slow cook to make the connective tissues melt and the meat become edible. We have used beef shin as both a joint of meat and also cut up to use in stews and curries. Either way after a day in the slow cooker it melts in the mouth.

It is also a cut that is full of flavour, season well but don’t use over powering herbs and spices if cooking as a joint, it really doesn’t need them.

The slow cooker is proving its worth on the boat. For the sake of a £9 slow cooker and a £15 300 watt inverter we have really very much increased our cooking facilities on board. In my opinion every boat should have one. There is nothing finer than pulling up after a long days cruising knowing that dinner is already cooked and all you have to do is dish up and enjoy. This will be even more enjoyable with the onset of the forth coming autumn and winter cruising season when a hot meal will really be needed at the end of a cold and often wet days cruising.