Miles Collins

Beef and ale with a twist…

Having rekindled my lost love with ‘proper beer’ and, more especially, Lincolnshire’s finest ale; Batemans XXXB, it inspired me to come up with a dish for the new menu featuring this great beer.

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I am not the sort to jump on the ‘local produce’ bandwagon for the sake of it. If it’s good then I’ll use it, if it’s average then I won’t. I cannot abide restaurants who fill their menus full of local names because it’s trendy and might win them an award. I like to think that if I name a supplier, which isn’t often then it means something.

Batemans deserve naming, I like the beer, I like what they stand for. So with that in mind I developed a dish based on the age old ’steak and ale’ combo. This is a restaurant presentation, you could use stewing beef and make a casserole to keep things simple.

Shin of Beef with Batemans Ale, Potato and Parmesan Gratin, Roast Beetroot, Mushrooms and Bacon

I’ve used shin of beef because the taste of slow cooked beef is wonderful and the resulting stock is incomparable. The shins were browned in a roasting tray on top of the stove until well coloured, chunks of carrot, celery, leeks, onion and garlic were added and cooked until nicely caramelised. A spoon of tomato puree was stirred in and then two bottles of Batemans XXXB was poured over the lot.

As the beer cooked down I added a couple of bay leaves, a few black peppercorns and a sprig of thyme. Once the beer had reduced by half I covered the beef with hot beef stock and left it all to simmer gently for six hours or until the meat fell away from the bone.

The meat was removed from the stock and left to cool slightly, the stock was passed through a fine sieve into a pan of reduced Batemans beer, sliced shallots, peppercorns, bay and thyme and all of this was left to reduce down by half.

I stripped the meat from the bone whilst still warm. Into a stainless steel bowl went the meat, rock salt and fresh pepper and a ladle of the stock to keep it moist. Two layers of cling film were set out on a table and the meat was layed on top, I pressed the meat together before rolling it through the cling film into a tight cylindrical shape. Once cool it was left in a refrigerator to set overnight. 

Once set the beef can be cut into whatever size you wish, simply put them into a pan or dish with some of the cooking stock and heat through. I am serving these with some roasted beetroot, a gratin of potato flavoured with parmesan, caramelised onion and bacon, some mushrooms and the reduced beer sauce.

Of course you don’t have to go to all that bother, use your favourite stew recipe and throw in a bottle of Batemans XXXB for good measure, just don’t forget the dumplings!