More things to do with a sheep ...

Not that I'm suggesting you should become a sheep-botherer or anything like that, just pointing out that there is more to the lamb than just chops or the eternal roast leg with mint sauce. There is, for instance, an Auvergnat specialty which involves braising a whole leg for about six hours with chestnuts (amongst other things), or you could butterfly a leg, soak it in olive oil, vinegar, garlic and rosemary overnight before putting it on the barbecue - or again, you could bone a shoulder, cover it with a mix of garlic stewed in butter until just soft, breadcrumbs and thyme, roll it up to enclose the stuffing, then cover it with a crust of buttered breadcrumbs and parmesan before roasting it ...

If you could get hold of lamb fillet (the real fillet, about 2 cm in diameter, not a boned-out rack) I've got a really good one involving orange juice, shallots and redcurrant jelly - but today we'll celebrate the shank. If you can't get lamb shanks but have, like me, an understanding butcher, he'll oblige you by cutting off the forearm bits off the shoulder - use those.

It is - or was, anyway - an under-rated cut of meat, which is odd because it really is good. Full of flavour, extremely tender (when braised), and rather gelatinous (like crocodile) which gives a luscious sauce.

Crocodile, although gelatinous and tender enough, misses out on the flavour department. When I ate it in Yaoundé years ago, in a definitely non-trendy, no-whites (only got in on account of being with locals), cheap'n'cheerful dive, it was smothered in harissa (which is used rather like ketchup, but it's the equivalent of sambal oelek so I wouldn't recommend overdoing it) which did make me forget for a while that I was basically ingesting an overgrown lizard. I was too busy drinking beer to cool my throat down.

This generous use of harissa (which does, I admit, tend to mask most signs of advanced putrescence in the meat) may explain why it is that in Africa the smallest beer you can get in a bar is about 1 litre. Anything less would be totally inadequate.

Anyway, back to our adolescent ovine friend. The last time I did this for Sophie and her two bratlings I had two largeish bits from the shoulder (the forelegs, really, I suppose) - about 1.2 kg. There was none left. Be warned. You will also need a decent sized, heavy Dutch oven or other solid lidded casserole big enough to hold the meat and its accessories.

To start with, fry some bacon up until crispy, then fish it out of the casserole and set it aside, leaving - as always - the fat in there. Which reminds me that now would be a good time to tell you how to make the stuff, so that next time you don't have to use waterlogged meat-substitute crap from the supermarket.

So, start off with about a kilo of good meaty pork belly with the skin still on. You might want to cut this into two chunks so that each will fit into a ziploc bag, because this make things easier later on. Like now, because you should put the meat into ziploc bags whilst you mix up 2 tbsp gros sel (kosher salt, to you), ditto brown sugar (or Chinese red sugar if you happen to have it), and a 1/4 tsp of either pink salt (aka curing salt) or if, like me, you can't get that, the same amount of saltpetre. (Do not overdo the saltpetre. It's toxic in large quantities: 3 - 4% is OK) To this you add a couple of cloves of garlic, finely chopped, a good tbsp of crushed dried juniper berries (mind you, if you have access to fresh juniper berries I'd use those), 1 tsp dried thyme, a couple of crushed bay leaves, coarsely ground black pepper, a bit of nutmeg ...

Now just divide the salt/sugar/spice mix between each bag, spooning it over the meat and then rubbing it in well. Close the bag(s), squeezing as much air out as you can, then stick them on a tray (in case of leaks) and put that out of harm's way in the fridge. For about two weeks. Don't forget about it, go down and talk to it every couple of days, give it a bit of a massage (don't take it out of the bag when you do this), maybe turn it over if you like ... at the end of this time it should be feeling quite firm. Runny would not be a good sign, and would normally mean that your fridge is not, in fact, working.

Assuming that it is in fact firm, remove it from the bag (which you should probably chuck), rinse it so that it's not too salty (but don't be obsessive, little bits of thyme or bayleaf or whatever left on it are fine), pat dry and then, using a thick skewer, poke a hole through flesh and skin at one end and push a bit of twine through. Knot the twine, so that you can hang it up on a hook or something, then go and do exactly that - in a dark, cool, airy place. Like one of the three cellars we happen to have under our house, for instance. Whatever, leave it there in the dark for another two weeks - during this time I rather like to brush it with a bit of maple syrup every few days. Do try to make sure that the cat can't get at it.

At the end of all that it's more or less fit for purpose. It'll keep for a few weeks in the fridge, well-wrapped, and it freezes well. I tend to make up a batch every month or so, like that we never run out. If your first batch is a bit salty - mine was - just rinse better the next time. You'll get the hang of it.

That was, I admit, rather a long digression, but it was all in a good cause. Having made your bacon, and now fried it, brown the lamb in the fat on medium heat and set that aside too. Now chop a couple of carrots into smallish chunks, an onion or two into wedges and - if you like that sort or thing - a stick of celery into slices. Shove the pile into the fat and stir occasionally until the vegetables start to brown.

At this point I usually sprinkle a tbsp of flour over and stir that in. I'm not sure that it makes any difference to the end-result, but I do it anyway. More habit than anything else. Then add some chopped garlic, a tbsp or two of tomato paste (according to your taste), a tbsp of smashed juniper berries and some thyme, rosemary, oregano, whatever. Let all that lot cook for another couple of minutes, until we get to the good part.

I assume that up till now you've been drinking regularly but in moderation, so with luck there'll be at least 2 cups of decent red wine left in the bottle. Go open another bottle, and pour the leftovers into the casserole - turn the heat up, scrape all the burnt bits off the bottom so that they dissolve, and boil hell out of it at least until all the alcohol has evaporated off, and preferably until it's reduced by about 1/3.

Put the shanks back in, add beef stock to come half-way up if necessary, then cover and cook - slowly - either in the oven or on a very low burner for about three hours. During which time you can make some serious inroads on that second bottle. If, when cooked, there's too much stock for your taste, just fish the shanks out and set aside for a couple of minutes whilst you reduce it.

Salad is not really a viable accompaniment to this. Garlicky mashed potatoes, on the other hand, are. And you can make butter lakes in them, too, which is a definite bonus. Beans, too, would be good.

And one last thing - like many such dishes, this reheats well and in my extremely humble opinion benefits from being cooked the day before you plan on eating it. But it smells so bloody delicious that this may not be an option.