Beef shin with smoked dulse

Dulse seaweed adds waves of intensity to this slowly cooked shin of beef, creating a simple yet stunning dish.

Credit: Hardie Grant Books / Andrew Montgomery

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  5:15 hours

• difficulty

  Easy

With its striking oxblood hue, transparent when held up to the light, dulse seaweed is easy to recognize. It washes up on the beach, ready for gathering, often along the high-tide line, and looks like massive splayed hands and fingers. I collect it, wash it and cold smoke it for 8 to 12 hours to impart a flavour that is quite incredible. But you don’t have to smoke your own weed (so to speak) – you can buy ready-smoked dulse.

 

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil or beef dripping
• 800 g (1 lb 12 oz) shin of beef, in thick slices on or off the bone
• 2 onions, sliced
• 4 large garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
• 2 celery sticks, trimmed and thinly sliced
• 3 or 4 thyme sprigs
• ½ glass of red wine
• 2–3 tsp powdered smoked dulse, or 1 handful home-smoked dulse
• 300 ml (10½ fl oz) chicken stock or water
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Heat the oven to 120°C/235°F/gas mark 1. 

Heat the oil or dripping in a large heavy-based flameproof casserole. Season the pieces of shin with salt and pepper, then put them in the pan to brown for 3–4 minutes on each side, until well coloured all over. Remove from the pan and set aside on a plate. 

Add the onions, garlic, celery and thyme to the pan and cook gently over a low heat, stirring regularly until the onions are soft but not coloured. Return the meat to the pan, then add the wine, dulse and stock or water and bring to a gentle simmer.

Place a lid on the casserole and put it in the oven for 4– 5 hours, or until the meat shreds easily with a fork. Remove the casserole from the oven, season to taste, and allow the meat to rest for 25 minutes before serving with buttery mash.

Recipe from Gather by Gill Meller (Hardie Grant Books, hb, RRP $49.95). Photography: © Andrew Montgomery. Read our interview with Gill here.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

With its striking oxblood hue, transparent when held up to the light, dulse seaweed is easy to recognize. It washes up on the beach, ready for gathering, often along the high-tide line, and looks like massive splayed hands and fingers. I collect it, wash it and cold smoke it for 8 to 12 hours to impart a flavour that is quite incredible. But you don’t have to smoke your own weed (so to speak) – you can buy ready-smoked dulse.