Pat meat dry with a paper towel.

Place a little oil in large soup pot and brown meat until golden brown. Remove meat from pot and place into a roasting pan.

To the same pot in which the meat was browning, add a little more oil and fry the onions until soft.

Add wine and dates and stir with a whisk, getting all those lovely brown bits of meat off the bottom of the pot. Allow wine to reduce (evaporate and thicken up a bit while stirring).

Add the whole bottle of jam and stir until it dissolves into the onions and wine reduction. Add the onion soup and mustard and stir well.

Crush some black pepper over the meat, sprinkle with a little salt and pour glaze over the meat.

Roll the vegetables in a little oil and sprinkle with thyme. Place the vegetables around the side of the meat. Cover with tin foil.

Place into preheated oven 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit) covered for one hour. Reduce heat to 150 degrees Celsius (300 degrees Fahrenheit) and allow to cook for another three hours. If you are using two pieces of meat to make up three kilograms then you won’t have to cook the meat as long: after the initial one hour you will only need to cook the meat at a lower temperature for a further two hours.