In NZ, number-eight fencing wire is a well-known and popular Kiwi idiom. Here in the Israeli kitchen, number eight can only refer to the best cut of meat suited to a super-tasty longer cooking stew; the importance of food and its consumption is a unique and inseparable part of the Jewish/Israeli cultural experience.
Winter appears to be lingering here in the Holy Land while spring is in the air and the almond blossoms are now on the ground after a rather nasty spring storm. The weather isn’t reflecting the shoulder season as it should and hearty cockle-warming stews are still the order of the day.
The number-eight butcher’s cut comes from the foreleg of the beast and is a well-used muscle (shrier in Hebrew). It is best suited to longer-cooking stews, cholents and goulashes.
Standard root vegetables, parsley, a little bit of tomato paste and chicken or beef stock and you will be well and truly home and hosed.
Ingredients (serves 6):
- 1½ kg of fresh number-eight foreleg muscle, cubed large
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 3-4 English peppercorns
- 100 g tomato paste
- Chicken or beef stock to cover the meat
- Coarse salt and black pepper
- Canola oil
- Baking paper and aluminium foil
- 1 large onion, peeled, left whole
- 2 or 3 carrots, peeled
- 1 celery root peeled and cubed, or 3 celery sticks
- 6-8 cloves of garlic, peeled and left whole
- 3 golden potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed large
- 1 bunch of parsley, washed
Method:
Prepare all the vegetables and set aside in a bowl. Cut the meat into large cubes and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pour a dash of canola oil into a pot large enough to accommodate all the ingredients and heat to medium high. Add the cubed meat and seal it by browning it on all sides. Add the root vegetables, garlic, potato and parsley. I use Knorr chicken or beef stock paste for my home stews, as I don’t have freezer space to store large containers of stock. Follow the instructions on the back of the container and make as much as you need, using boiling water. Add the tomato paste to the stock liquid and pour in to cover the contents of the pot.
Add bay leaves and English peppercorns and cover everything with baking paper and then two layers of aluminum foil pinched tight. Add a lid if you have one and cook in a 160°C pre-heated oven for at least two hours. Serve with basmati rice.
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