GUERNSEY BEAN JAR

Steps:

• Cover your dried beans in cold water in a pan and soak for 24 hours.
• Next day, place some of the soaked beans into the bottom of your casserole dish.
• Dice up your carrots and onions into relatively small pieces. Add some of the diced vegetables to the beans already in your dish.
• Place both the pork hock and the beef shin on top of the bean and veg mixture. Add the rest of your vegetables and beans on and around the meat in the dish.
• Tie the herbs together and add to the dish along with salt and pepper (or more according to taste). Add approx a teaspoon of pepper. Cover the contents of your casserole with water.
• Do not add the salt until the last hour or so of cooking time or your beans may stay too firm.
• The dish can be cooked on the stove top or in a slow cooker. Depending on which method of cooking you have chosen either bring to the boil on a high heat either in the slow cooker or in your oven, before turning the heat right down to very low.
• Allow to cook for an absolute minimum of 10 hours, although it can be cooked for up to 24 hours. Every now and again check the dish to make sure the contents are still covered with liquid and top up if necessary.
• Remove the meat carefully from the dish and then remove the fat and the bones and discard before returning the meat in small shreds or pieces to your casserole dish.
• Now is the time to add your salt (according to taste), and top up the water for the last time if necessary. Return your casserole to the oven or the slow cooker and leave on for a further hour.
• Butter slices of your french bread stick and serve the Guernsey Bean Jar in soup bowls or deep dishes along with a spoon and several slices of the bread.