Braised Beef Shank with Rosemary Polenta

Restaurant Guy Savoy in Paris is famous for turning butcher cuts into delicious 3-Michelin star quality dishes. And man oh man do the French love offal and game. Nothing goes to waste. And why should it?

During my employment at Guy Savoy we used proteins that I had never previously seen before in the United States let alone cooked: wild hare, baby boar, grouse, wild pigeon, pheasant, starlings, kidneys, sweet breads, brains, duck tongue, cow tongue, pig knuckles, and tripe just to name a few of the more unusual.

Yes, we really did cook duck tongue once.

 The flavors of this dish border on Italian with the rich red wine tomato beef sauce and creamy rosemary polenta. But considering we served it at Guy Savoy, a restaurant very proud of it's French heritage, I'll have to guess that maybe some where in history the Italians donated this recipe.

Catherine de Medicci peut-être? Hmmmmm..... maybe not.

 Most of us don't need to feed a family of 6 or I'd suggest shocking your butcher with a request for a whole shank. Two 3" shank cross sections will easily feed two people although the result is a dish resembling osso bucco. Which, in my opinion, is not necessarily a bad thing. Beef shank or shin is a cut taken from the front lower leg of a steer.

The connective tissue is very tough so it is commonly braised or slow cooked to tenderize the meat. This is a picture of a more manageable cross section for the home cook...

Here's the best part of beef shin or shank (call it what you will) it only costs $4.99 a pound! No here's the best thing about beef shank: you can put it in the oven and pretty much forget about it for an hour! Then you can check it and forget about it for another hour! Okay, here's the best, best thing: you can scoop out the marrow as it cooks and eat it all by yourself. Justification? You slaved over it for 2 hours why should you have to share! Enough said, recession cooking couldn't get tastier. 

Braised Beef Shank with Rosemary Polenta

 Serves 2

Ingredients

1 3/4's – 2 lbs beef shank (2 slices across the bone, approximately 3"'s thick)

1 yellow onion, chopped

2 shallots, chopped

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium carrot peeled and chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

1 cup dry red wine (with extra to add if desired)

3 cups beef stock

1 28oz can of whole peeled tomatoes

1 bay leaf

1 sprig of fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Kitchen string (optional, depends how picky you are about shape)

Olive oil

Salt and freshly groung pepper

1 cup polenta

2 cups chicken stock or water

2 cups whole milk

1/2 cup parmesan cheese grated

1 Tablepoon minced rosemary

Instructions Preheat oven to 325˚F. Make incisions into the thick connective tissue that surrounds the leg meat. This tissue will tighten during cooking and push the meat out of it's circular form. In order to keep the shape tie 2 pieces of kitchen string around the shank. Season beef shanks generously with salt and pepper. Heat 2 T olive oil in a large oven proof pot. Sear the shank on all sides. Add the onions, shallots, carrots and continue to sauté until onions are softened.

Add the red wine and reduce by half. Add the beef stock until it just covers the meat. Add all the sauce from the can of the peeled tomatoes and 4 of the tomatoes. Break apart the tomatoes with a spoon. Add the herbs. When the braising liquid is simmering, place in the oven uncovered. Check every half hour and turn the shanks over after 1 hour (scooping out the marrow and eating it yourself!).

If the braising liquid is reducing to quickly you can either add more stock and red wine or place a lid on it. The meat should be covered on the sides at all times. After approximately 2 hours the meat should be tender. Remove shanks and keep warm. Strain the braising liquid in a chinois pressing hard against all the vegetables with a ladle or wooden spoon. Scrape the bottom of the chinois and make sure to add all those puréed vegetables – that's half the flavor! Return braising liquid to the pot and reduce until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add the shanks back to the pot and keep on low heat while making rosemary polenta.

Polenta: Heat water to a boil in a medium sauce pot. Add polenta, turn down heat to medium-low, and whisk. After the polenta has absorbed the water, add milk cup by cup. Continue to gently whisk. Add minced rosemary. Cook for 10 minutes, whisking, or until polenta no longer has a crunchy texture. Add in parmesan and season with salt and pepper. If necessary add more milk to keep it creamy.

Comments

[martha]

That recipe looks fabulous. I plan to try it out soon. As a teacher of aspiring cooks at a vocational school I love reading about your adventures in the big bad real world of professional cooking. I hope you continue to have the best of luck.

[MsGourmet]

I have only ever cooked lamb shanks before... those beef shanks look enormous!

[Paula Maack]

Mouth watering photos!!

Mmmm... Bone marrow....

I can't wait to try this recipe. Thank you!!!

Cheers,

~ Paula

[Chad]

I loved the braised shortrib recipe, so I am looking forward to testing this one out. Thanks!

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[Abbigail]

Thanks for this great recipe...you've may have just sorted my Valentine's day dinner!

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[Kenton]

I cooked this recipe last night and it was a big hit for us and our guest. Thanks so much for posting it. Both the polenta and the beef were delicious. I added some sauteed green beans with butter, fresh thyme, lemon juice and parsley. It paired well with the rest of the items on the plate. We drank a Nebbiolo Italian wine with the meal. Thanks for making our Nebraska winter a little more bearable :)

[Claudia]

I found your link from Food Search, looking for a nice recipe for beef shank. The butcher said it could be used for soup stock - was very inexpensive - but this looks more like what I wanted.

[willazilla]

This was perfect for my rainy day in Northern California yesterday. I always like to make a little more than the recipe calls for, because next day leftovers are even more delicious. I had three shanks. My pot was a little tight with all of the ingredients and came within half an inch of the top. At the end I could only add a 14 oz can of diced tomatoes, but all of the proportions otherwise remained. The result was an amazing dish, very rich and thick without the need for any final reduction. Yum, Yum. Thank you so much. The presentation of the shanks in your photo would really raise this a notch for company. I just have to figure out how to make that cut request to my butcher!

[chinesebeefrecipes]

hello,your Braised Beef Shank are just making me mouthwatering,I hope it taste the way it looks I am a chinese food amateur and like cooking the dish myself,I'll try it,I hope I could cook this dish as yours,thanks for sharing again.

[Tom]

I tried this and it is absolutely delicious though ordering a beef shank from my local french boucherie was a trial of idiom ("souris" did it!)....going to be a mainstay now!

[delicious beef]

Really mouth-watering beef, YUMMY!
I do hope it taste the way it looks, really delicious.
I do love cheese, and pleased to find there is cheese that added in this amazing dish, cheers!
Thank you, I hope I can cook for my family one day :D

[Jim]

Thank you for your tip regarding the bone and kitchen string in part 1 of your Instructions. I've been searching over a dozen beef shank recipes for an hour now, and you are the first person who mentioned that :-)

[Kristos]

I'm a true professional when it comes to cooking procedures and you sound as if you are too. I want to meet you!! SlowBraise. (Self given nick name)

[Acai Optimum Weight Loss]

I just made this tonight and it was delicious! Thanks for this recipe. You can't beat how easy it is, plus it tastes great. Thanks again!

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[Page]

Do you think this would turn out as well if made in a crock pot? If so, how long, and at what temperature would I cook it? Thanks for the recipe.

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I don't like cooking but I will try to cook this one.

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[louis]

That recipe looks fabulous. I plan to try it out soon. As a teacher of aspiring cooks at a vocational school I love reading about your adventures in the big bad real world of professional cooking. I hope you continue to have the best of luck.

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I love to eat tomatoes frequently because have many properties like antioxidants, vitamin and i am always worried about my appearance. I try to look young all the time, and the tomatoes is good food for keep our beauty.

[Chester Chan]

how do you make your veal stock?cos the colour from the picture looks quite light?you put red wine in there and i suppose the stock could be a light veal/beef stock?do you have a specific recipe for the stock you make at guy savoy?thank you for posting this amazing recipe again.

[BAMmGRAPHICS]

WOW! Quite a detailed and full recipe,
plus hours of work and cooking!
And then it looks so delicious - i'd
probably 'inhale' it in 10 minutes!
'Tis life...