The market · Meat
Beef shin
The lower leg: hard-working muscle laced with connective tissue that melts into gelatine over long, slow cooking.
beefy · gelatinous
What to do with it
Rosa Ibarra's Clarified milk punch, mezcal and pineappleBeef shin would soften its edgeIbu Sari's Sambal ijoBeef shin would soften its edgeKenji Hara's Milk punch, with hojichaBeef shin would soften its edge
MinangkabauRendangBeef simmered in coconut milk and spice paste for hours, until the liquid is gone and the meat fries in what's left.2 versions hereJavaneseRawonA beef soup turned black by keluak nuts, earthy and deep, served with rice, short bean sprouts, a salted egg and sambal.No one here has made it yetSundaneseSoto mie BogorYellow noodles, beef and cabbage in a clear spiced beef broth, with tomato, potato and slices of fried spring roll.No one here has made it yetThaiMassaman curryA rich, mild coconut curry fragrant with cardamom, cinnamon and clove, with beef or chicken, potatoes and peanuts, sweet and sour with palm sugar and tamarind.No one here has made it yetVietnameseBún bò HuếThick, round rice noodles in a beef and pork broth sharp with lemongrass, deepened with fermented shrimp paste and reddened with chilli oil.No one here has made it yetSri LankanLampraisRice cooked in stock, with a mixed-meat curry, frikkadels, prawn blachan, aubergine pickle and egg, wrapped in banana leaf and baked.No one here has made it yetGeorgianKharchoBeef simmered in a thick sauce of ground walnuts, garlic and spice, soured with sour plum — a stew in the west of Georgia, a soup elsewhere.No one here has made it yetMoroccanTanjiaBeef or lamb packed into a tall clay urn with preserved lemon, garlic, cumin, saffron and smen, and cooked for hours in the embers.No one here has made it yetEthiopianTihloBalls of dough made from roasted barley flour, dipped one at a time into a hot, spiced stew or berbere sauce.No one here has made it yetEthiopianZigniBeef stewed long with a mound of onions, berbere and spiced butter, often with tomato — red, thick and hot.No one here has made it yetNigerianMiyan kukaA dark green, gently slippery soup of powdered dried baobab leaves, with meat or dried fish and daddawa, eaten with tuwo.No one here has made it yetNigerianEdikang ikongA rich soup of fluted pumpkin leaves and waterleaf cooked almost in their own juices, with meat, stockfish, periwinkles and palm oil.No one here has made it yetCastilian and MadridCocido madrileñoChickpeas, meats, sausages and vegetables simmered for hours in one pot, then served in turns: the broth with noodles, then everything else.No one here has made it yetProvençalDaube provençaleBeef marinated in red wine with garlic, herbs and orange peel, then braised for hours in a pot-bellied daubière until it gives to a spoon.No one here has made it yetProvençalGardiane de taureauBull's meat from the Camargue stewed slowly in red wine with onions, garlic and black olives, served with the delta's own rice.No one here has made it yetAlsatianBaeckeoffePork, lamb and beef marinated overnight in white wine, layered with potatoes and onions in an earthenware dish sealed with dough, and baked for hours.No one here has made it yetAlsatianFleischschnackaFresh pasta spread with minced cooked beef, onion and herbs, rolled up, sliced into spirals like snails, and browned before simmering in stock.No one here has made it yetBurgundianBœuf bourguignonBeef braised slowly in red Burgundy with bacon, small onions and mushrooms until it falls apart.No one here has made it yetKinds
- Boneless shin
- Easiest to dice; the usual choice for rendang and stews.
- Shin on the bone
- Cut across as osso buco — the marrow enriches the sauce.
- Beef cheek
- Even more gelatinous, and the closest swap.
If you can't find it
Cooked here without it
- Beef cheek instead · Ibu Sari's Beef rendang, v6Yes, like thisback to beef shin after“Cheek instead of shin, six hours”
Goes with
Cooked with, here
How much, here
47–47% of the dish by weight — a place to start.
What cooks here have learned
“Back to shin, and the kerisik pounded fine”“Cheek instead of shin, six hours”Knowing it
- Where to buy
- Butchers, usually cheaply. Ask for it in large pieces — 4cm or more — so it holds together over hours.
- A little history
- Braising cuts like shin are the backbone of slow cooking everywhere: osso buco, rendang, red-braised beef, the British stew.
- Worth knowing
- Leave the silvery sinew between the muscles. It's what turns glossy.