Braised Beef Shanks

These braised beef shanks are mouth wateringly delicious and tender!

Consider these the more affordable, but equally delicious and beefy brother of beef short ribs.

What are beef shanks?

Beef shanks are from the top portion of a steer's leg and can be cut into shank cross-sections or shank center-cuts. Since this cut of beef is from the leg, it has been extensively used for movement. Meats extensively used for movement could be tough, therefore beef shanks are a tough piece of meat. The best method for cooking beef shanks is by primarily braising the pieces of meat in red wine and beef stock. Braising turns tough pieces of meat into deliciously tender pieces of meat that quite literally fall off the bone. Beef shanks also have a good portion of fatty marbling, packed with beefy flavor, and comes with a beautiful beef marrow bone.

How long to braise beef shanks?

Braising beef shanks could vary depending on the texture of the meat you want. The recipe below braises the beef shanks for about 4 hours in a 300° F oven and the meat came out so incredibly fork tender! As a test, I braised the beef shanks for about 5 hours in a 275° F oven, but some parts of the meat came out drier. Hence, this brings up an important aspect of braising. Braising beef shanks too long will cause the meat to dry out. This makes sense when you taste the meat from stocks. When making beef stock, which is cooked for maybe 12 hours, the beef does fall apart, but it is very dry.

What do you use for you braising liquid?

Use a mixture of dry red wine, beef stock, and balsamic vinegar to braise the beef shanks. In addition to the mirepoix, the braising liquid will be your base of flavor. Which is why, if you can, use very good quality beef stock. It makes a huge difference. The difference is like using beefy water versus a gelatinous, beefy, deeply rich flavor bomb. Yes, it is that good and makes that much of a difference. As for the red wine, use a cabernet sauvignon or a red wine blend, such as a cabernet sauvignon and merlot blend.

Stay away from lighter red wines, such as a pinot noir. The beefy flavor of the beef shanks and stock will over power the light pinot noir wine. The third component, which is the balsamic vinegar, just adds another layer of flavor and is a pretty flexible ingredient for the braising liquid base. If you want half a cup less of balsamic vinegar, add another half a cup of red wine or beef stock. Now, using the balsamic vinegar is actually the fun part because you could use flavored balsamic vinegars. Just imagine using a fig or pomegranate balsamic vinegar!

How to make braised beef shanks?

Making braised beef shanks starts off with preparing the beef shanks! We need to start off by seasoning the meat with salt and pepper.

After seasoning with salt and pepper, flour the outside of the beef shanks.

The next part will be browning the floured beef shanks in a heavy bottom dutch oven pot. If you do not have a dutch oven pot, get one, but make sure it is good quality. Getting a good quality dutch oven will save you a world of headache, especially if the inside enamel begins to crack. The Le Creuset enameled 5.5 quart dutch oven is highly recommended.

Brown the beef shanks on all sides.

After browning, you will want to prep and sauté your mirepoix, which is just a blend of yellow onions, carrots, and celery. As another depth of flavor, we used one whole head of garlic, which is about 10 to 12 cloves of garlic, and tomato paste.

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Now we will want to deglaze the dutch oven with red wine. Deglazing the dutch oven will release the flavored packed residue at the bottom of the pot.

Next, bring the red wine to a boil and maintain at a boil for about two to three minutes. The important parts of boiling the red wine is to cook off the alcohol and reduce the red wine to intensify its flavor.

Next, add in the beef stock and balsamic vinegar.

Using your tongs, add the browned beef shanks back to the dutch oven. Next, sufficiently cover the beef shanks with your braising liquid. And remember to add your fresh herbs! The herb combination we are using is thyme, oregano, rosemary, and bay leaves.

Here is another picture using a casserole dish to braise the beef shanks. I just love this 4 quart casserole dish because it actually has a cover, which is just amazing!

Finally, cover and bake in a 300° F oven for about 4 hours.

Bask in the glory that is braised beef shanks!

Let's get a close up shot of a cross-section of the braised beef shank. Just glorious...

What do we do with the braising liquid?

Using tongs or a spoon, pull the braised beef shanks out of the dutch oven and set aside. Do not worry if the beef shanks begin to fall apart. This means you did an excellent job in braising the meat!

This next step is important and very crucial. The braising liquid has amazing flavor from the baked red wine, beef stock, and balsamic vinegar. In addition, the big beefy bone marrow was cooked down in your braising liquid as well. There is massive flavor in this braising liquid.

Separate the braising liquid from the tender braised beef shanks. Using a strainer to catch the braised mirepoix (the yellow onions, carrots, celery, garlic) and herbs, pour the braising liquid into a bowl.

Gently press and scrape the mirepoix and herbs against the strainer to extract more of the braising liquid and flavor. Using a silicone spatula is very useful for this part.

When the braising liquid and additional flavor has been extracted from the mirepoix and herbs, you should be left with a very flavorful sauce for your braised beef shanks.

How do you serve braised beef shanks?

Serve the braised beef shanks over a bed of creamy polenta. The polenta will absorb that wonderful braised sauce and adds a creamy combination to the tender braised beef shanks.

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