Pot Roast Shin of Beef

When my friend Moncho Vilas, of the Restaurante Casa Vilas in Santiago, told me about this dish I felt it had little chance of tasting good. But despite its short list of unprepossessing ingredients, it turned out to be a very fine dish indeed, not dissimiliar to the kind of estouffades or stews favoured by the French cowboys in the Camargue.

The secret of the dish is to brown the meat fiercely on all sides, to brown the onions so that they are quite caramelised, and to cook