Pot Roast

Heat the oven to 150°C. Slice the onions thickly and cut the celery sticks into 5 cm lengths. Peel the garlic cloves, leaving them whole.

Pat the beef joint thoroughly dry with kitchen paper and season it generously all over with salt and black pepper. Brown it in the oil in a heavy casserole over high heat, a full 4 minutes a side, until properly dark. This crust is most of the finished flavour.

Lift the beef out. Cook the onions and celery in the fat for 8 minutes, then add the garlic and the tomato paste and stir for 2 minutes.

Pour in the wine and scrape the base clean as it bubbles, then let it reduce by half.

Add the beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, thyme and bay leaves, and settle the beef joint back in. The liquid should come about two thirds up the meat, not cover it.

Cover and cook in the oven for 2.5 hours, turning the beef once halfway.

Peel the carrots and cut them into 5 cm chunks, and halve the potatoes. Add them to the pot and cook for a final 45 minutes, until the beef pulls apart easily when twisted with a fork.

Lift the beef and vegetables onto a warm dish and remove the thyme stalks and bay leaves. Skim the fat from the liquid, then boil it hard for about 10 minutes, until reduced to about 500 ml. Whisk the flour into the 60 ml of cold water, stir it in and simmer for 5 minutes to thicken.

Pull the beef into large pieces and serve with the vegetables and gravy.