Beef Shin Ragu

The reverse-engineered ragu is built on pork shoulder, but beef shin makes a ragu with a completely different character. Shin is full of connective tissue that slowly melts into the sauce, giving it a silky, sticky body that clings to wide ribbons of pasta. This one wants pappardelle and a pile of parmesan.

Ingredients

• 1kg beef shin (boneless, cut into large chunks)
• 1 white onion
• 2 carrots
• 4 sticks of celery
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 400g tin of plum tomatoes
• 300ml red wine
• 300ml beef stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp thyme
• 75g butter
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Select a Dutch oven pan with a lid for this recipe
2. Dice your onion, garlic, celery and carrots into small cubes and fry in the butter until softened (your mirepoix)
3. Remove from the pan and add the beef shin with the olive oil, browning the meat generously on all sides
4. Add the mirepoix back into the pan with the tomato paste and cook for a couple of minutes
5. Add the wine and let it bubble for a few minutes to cook off the alcohol
6. Add the tomatoes, stock, bay and thyme, season, and mix well
7. Cook at 140°C for 3 hours with the lid on, stirring halfway
8. Remove the lid and check the meat, it should be starting to give when pressed with a fork, then return to the oven uncovered for another hour to thicken the sauce
9. Remove from the oven and rest
10. With a fork, shred the shin into the sauce, leaving some chunkier pieces for texture
11. Toss with cooked pappardelle and a splash of the pasta water, and finish with parmesan

Notes

Shin needs time more than anything else. If the meat isn’t shredding easily, it’s not done, put it back in and check again in 30 minutes. It’s very hard to overcook.

Like all ragus, this is better the next day, so it’s worth making a double batch and freezing half.

Inspiration

A direct descendant of the reverse-engineered ragu, and every beef shin pappardelle that’s appeared on a British gastropub menu in the last decade.