I used to work making food packaging and got involved, in a small way with the Food Research Institute, or whatever they called themselves, based on the outskirts of London at the time - it was around 30 years ago.
Fat does not add flavour, marbling does not add flavour - all part of the blind tatsting that has been done. It is folklore.
Shin around here is actually lean - full of grissle, but lean. I am unsure why a cow would/could get fat legs
How do you stop the onions falling apart? I add shallots in the last hour of cooking.
I usually buy the tiny "reject" onions in Tesco and they go in for the full time and they come out whole, but very soft. (I also add a chopped large onion, with 2-3 small onions per helping). Be careful not to chop off the root-plate - just the actual roots - they will fall apart if you remove the root-plate.
Simple stew here for 3-4 helpings (something like 500g meat, all spoon measures are heaped) - boil the kettle, into the bottom of the casserole - stock or stock cube, large dollop of Worcs. sauce, chopped small can of drained anchovies, tspn mustard powder, one large carrot in 1 inch lengths, 2 sticks celery (chopped), or the same quantity of celeriac, same again swede, small/tiny whole onions (or shallots) if you have them. Brown the meat. Fry off the chopped large onion until transparent, add about one dspn farina (potato flour - I hate sauces made with wheat flour), tspn thyme, 3-4-5 bayleaves, 1/2 tspn marjoram - fry for ONE MINUTE ONLY and keep it moving. Use the boiling water to deglaze the pan after the majority has been scraped into the casserole.
Add stock/water to get everything almost submerged.
I never use wine - I have eaten plenty of stews with it and it has never added anything that I thought worth the cost, if anything at all.