Dinka's Cookbook

Serve with freshly boiled fettucini, into which some of the gravy has been stirred.

Ingredients:

• 750 g topside/H-bone roast
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 – 2 garlic cloves
• oil & butter to cook the meat
• ¼ tsp grated nutmeg
• 1 tumbler Port plus 30 ml sugar
• salt & freshly ground black peppe
• about 2 – 3 rashers streaky bacon
• vinegar marinade, diluted 1/3 – 2/3 parts water
• 1 large onion, grated fairly finely
• 15 ml cooked tomato (thick) (reduce fresh peeled, seeded tomatoes or tinned Italian tomatoes)
• Beef stock as needed / Telma stock cube

Preparation:

• Lard the meat with slivers of garlic and strips of bacon to taste – pierce the roast with a sharp knife, push in the handle of a thin wooden spoon, and in the hole so made insert the bacon and garlic.
• Place the meat in a non-reactive bowl and pour over the diluted vinegar in sufficient to cover the roast completely. Add the cloves.
• Cover and leave overnight, but not in the refrigerator – if you leave it longer than about 18 hours, then it will need refrigeration.
• Remove the meat from the marinade, dab it as dry as possible and tie it to keep its shape while cooking. Season with salt and pepper.
• Heat the oil and butter in a deep saucepan, large enough to for the meat to fit fairly snugly. Start browning the meat, and when it is halfway browned start adding the grated onion over the meat so that the onion is finished by the time the meat is well browned all over.
• NB. Be careful not to cook at too high a temperature as the meat and onion burn easily, but also not too low as allthe juices of the meat will run out, leaving the joint very stringy and tasteless.
• This stage is a pain, as it cannot be hurried, and you need to give it your attention. Start adding the sugared port, into which the 15 ml of thick, cooked tomato has been stirred, little by little, waiting until most of the liquid has disappeared before adding more.
• Keep turning the meat so that all sides of the joint cook in the port. When the port is finished, sprinkle on the grated nutmeg, and add stock as needed, cooking on a gentle heat until the meat is tender.
• Remove the meat, skim off any fat, and, only if real necessary, thicken the gravy with a little cornflour slaked in water.
• Rest for at least 15 minutes, then slice fairly thinly.

Serves 4 – 5.