Dear readers, meet Thor’s Hammer! I walked into my favourite butcher’s shop before Christmas to stock up on my usual Lincolnshire goodies – pork pie, haslet, chine, Lincolnshire sausages, sausage pie and gammon…and I saw this in the counter display. I had never seen anything quite like it and it was love at first sight. ‘Wrap it up Chris’, I said, ‘Thor’s coming home to Suffolk with me!’ Thor’s Hammer is a French trimmed beef shank that needs six hours of gentle cooking in a bath of red wine to give up its full flavour. It’s a total showstopper when you bring it to the table and actually takes barely any effort. I served it with fluffy sour cream mashed potato and kalettes but any dark green veg would work. Everyone had seconds but there was still enough left to make the most amazing chopped ragout with the leftovers stirred into rigatoni pasta for supper the day after. I can’t wait to go back and buy another one.

• Serves 4 to 6
• I cooked this in a large oval cast iron casserole dish with a lid. Americans call this a Dutch oven. If you don’t have one, use a roasting tray large enough to cook the hammer on its side and make a sealed lid with tin foil.
• One ‘Thor’s Hammer’. Show this picture your local butcher and see if he’s up to the challenge! You might need to preorder it. Bring it out of the fridge for a good hour to bring it up to room temperature before cooking.
• 8 large carrots. Chop four into fine dice, chop four into chunks
• 2 large white onions, finely chopped
• 1 large red onion, sliced
• 10 cloves of garlic, minced or grated
• 2 tbsps tomato paste
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1 sprig of rosemary
• Salt and black pepper
• 750ml bottle of robust red wine
• 300ml beef stock
• Flat leaf parsley

To make…

• Preheat the oven to 140C. You will need to allow a good seven hours from start to finish.
• Season the meat with salt and pepper. Add a splash of oil to a large frying pan, heat gently and then sear the hammer on all sides. Once browned, transfer to your casserole or roasting tray. Lay it horizontally with thickest meat side down.
• Add the diced onion, carrot and garlic to the pan and sauté until slightly softened and golden. Add the tomato paste and cook it out for five minutes. Add the wine, stock and herbs. Stir until it reaches simmering point and then pour it over the meat. Cover with a lid or foil. Braise in the oven for three hours.
• Uncover the meat, turn it and cook for another two hours until the beef is tender. Add the remaining carrots and red onion. Braise in the oven for a further hour.
• Carefully remove the beef from the stock. Wrap it in foil and set aside.
• Carefully skim the fat from the surface (save it, it will make fab roasties). Put it on the hob and simmer gently until the carrot mixture is reduced and quite thick. You may need to use a different pan if you used a roasting tray to cook it as opposed to a casserole.
• Warm a serving dish. I used a large white bowl I usually reserve for salads or vegetables. Ladle the carrots and onion mixture into the base of the dish. Nestle the hammer, bone side up, in the middle of the dish. Pour a little of the gravy over the top. Sprinkle the carrot and gravy mix with freshly chopped parsley.
• I whip plenty of butter, white pepper and sour cream into my mash and set it on the table along with a dish of greens for everyone to serve themselves. Get everyone seated and then carry the hammer in triumphantly to the table. The meat should flake off the bone. Serve a handsome chunk to each person topped with a few spoons of the carrot and red wine gravy.

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