Have you ever walked into your butcher shop and taken a look at the items in the far recesses of the display? You know, the “weird” and cheap items that make you wonder who would buy that and what would they do with it? Let me help you out with some examples of things I’m talking about:

1. Lamb, Beef or Veal Shanks

2. Beef Brisket

3. Pork Butt or Picnic Roast

4. And perhaps scariest of all, Tripe

Now I won’t lie, even for me tripe (essentially the lining of a cows stomach) is a stretch. I only include this because while reading Thomas Keller’s book (arguably the top chef in North America) he had a fantastic recipe for braised tripe which I tried and actually enjoyed. It CAN be done.

However for the rest of this list, and several others not included here, it can be done much easier and just as cheap. For a fraction of the cost of some high end steaks, you can take home some beautiful meaty lamb shanks and create something beautiful and delicious with just a bit more time. I’ll include a recipe a bit later, but first:

What is braising?

The best way I have heard braising described is as “stewing with a college education”. It is essentially a combination of dry and wet cooking methods, where meat is seared in a pan with a small amount of oil until the exterior is browned and caramelized, and then vegetables, stock, wine, and other flavouring ingredients are added and the mixture is simmered to allow the meat to tenderize and take on flavour. Even the toughest cuts of meat are no match for mighty braising, and can be turned into melt in your mouth tender dishes bursting with flavours.

Why Bother?

Well for starters, eating grilled steaks and chicken every meal gets boring, not to mention expensive. 4 or 5 high quality ribeye steaks will cost you at least double as the same amount of the above cuts. Another reason is experimentation. Let’s be honest, anyone can grill up some steaks with a little practice and have it turn out great, but with braising and experimenting with other tougher cuts of meat, endless flavourings, herbs, vegetables and stocks can be added to the mix to create something unique and delicious that any cook would be proud of. Many top chefs include a large number of these items on their menus, not soley in an effort to save cost, but to challenge themselves to turn an often overlooked cut of meat into something refined, beautiful, delicious and worthy of a spot on their menu.

Have I sold you on trying it out sometime? Great, here’s my favorite recipe and great one to start off with if you aren’t familiar with braising.

Braised Lamb Shanks

Ingredients:

- 4 meaty lamb shanks (ask your butcher, these generally cost around $3.99/lb or less)
- 1 lb fingerling potatoes, halved
- 4 large carrots, chopped into large pieces
- chopped celery, about 2 cups
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 3 cloves chopped garlic
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 cup diced canned tomatoes
- Olive Oil
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp flour
- Salt and Pepper
- Sprigs of fresh thyme and rosemary

Method:

Heat a small amount of olive oil  in a large heavy bottomed pot over high heat. Season lamb shanks with salt and pepper. Sear the lamb shanks in the hot oil, turning to brown and caramelize evenly on all sides. When all sides are browned, remove shanks from the pot and set aside. Add in potatoes, onions, carrots, celery and garlic to the pot and season. Add in the red wine to deglaze and use a wooden spoon to scrape the caramelized bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the lamb shanks back in and add in the chicken stock and tomatoes, along with a couple sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer, covering the pot with a lid. Let simmer for approx. 2 hours until lamb shanks are extremely tender. In a separate pan, heat butter and whisk in flour to form a roux. Add to the pot and whisk to thicken the mixture. Do a final seasoning to taste with salt and pepper, and then plate the lamb shank in the center of a large white plate and arrange the potatoes and vegetables around it, ladelling some of the flavourful sauce on top to finish.

Enjoy!

Tags: braising, catering, lamb shanks, vancouver personal chef

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 3rd, 2008 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Cooking Tips, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.