Grinding shank meat

[Weldor]

Instapot shanks, shred the meat for taco's or Enchilladas or just toss it in a stew or soup. Takes about 45 minutes done. Keep the broth for cooking.

 

[Wrongside]

I have a strict “never grind the shanks” rule. They are too good when slow cooked.

Yep! My butchering and cooking processes have changed a lot over the years. Now we keep all the shanks, shoulder roasts and neck roasts we can.

 

[william schmaltz]

Our moose shanks we leave with another burger bag and donate it to people in the village we hunt out of. They appreciate it more than we do and hopefully waste much less. Anything smaller than a moose, I just grind the whole thing.

I grew up in a butcher shop. So we ate a LOT of cross cut shank, marrow, ox tail, etc. For that reason, I can’t stomach the wild game versions. As a kid I was always thrown the shanks and neck bones to clean. So I guess I’ve reached my patience limit and I’d rather give them away than deal with them!

 

[Snowwolfe]

I boned out shanks for 40 years. Then decided to trust what I read online and tried slow roasting them. Without a doubt my favorite meal off a wild animal, moose or deer. Had a bunch of friends who swore it would be a waste to slow cook them. Now it has become their favorite meal as well.
Try it, and make sure you cook them long enough to become tender.

 

[BLJ]

How does everyone deal with bone chips when cutting it? All looks delicious.

 

[Gravel Road]

Shanks are awesome. We used to struggle and try to separate chunks of meat out of the tendon, usually ending in frustration and a lot of waste. We started deboning and throwing them in a pot for an afternoon until the cartilage breaks down. They have amazing flavor and my wife (an excellent cook) makes all sorts of different dishes from them.
Neck meat is good too, and I would hate to take a neck shot and ruin all that meat, especially on a large whitetail buck.

 

[SBR Sarge]

Venison shanks get an hour or two heavily smoked at very, very low temps for flavoring.

Then, it is into the pot with bone broth where they simmer until they fall apart.

Heavenly!

 

[Houseminer]

Normally tacos are my go-to, but I usually save shanks for osso buco or a similar dish. This is your average white tail doe shank. Really I grind very little, 90% of what most people grind I either braise or make stew. Usually only get 3-4 lb of grind off a whitetail doe or smaller buck.

View attachment 679013View attachment 679014

This looks really good, wanna share your recipe?

 

[Macintosh]

This looks really good, wanna share your recipe?

Thanks. Its super simple really, I just freeze the shanks when butchering. Thaw, salt and pepper. Sear the outside and set aside. Carmelize onions and garlic, toss in veggies and broth, braise until its falling off the bone. I like to serve over polenta. I think the one pictured uses black trumpet mushrooms we found and frozen tomato slices from the garden, although trumpets are pretty mild flavored, almost any mushroom will do. I think many years ago this was the recipe I used, and we sort of wing it at this point. Sometimes we make more of a brothy braise, other times more tomatoey, etc.

Ossobuco Milanese Recipe - Elk Osso Buco | Hank Shaw

A classic ossobuco milanese recipe with risotto. This is an elk osso buco, but beef, bison, moose or venison all work.

honest-food.net

 

[Slick8]

I too slow cook mind, no desire to run that much sinew into my grind pile. Even if double ground it's simply not worth in IMO.

 

[mparks270]

Instapot shanks, shred the meat for taco's or Enchilladas or just toss it in a stew or soup. Takes about 45 minutes done. Keep the broth for cooking.

This is my preferred method starting last fall. Get a stainless sawzall blade and trim them to fit in the Instapot. 90 minutes. Natural release.

As a bonus, pull the meat and cook everything else for another hour. Strain for bone broth.

 

[Forfarj]

I follow the same rule! Not much better than a slow cooked shank with a red wine reduction. Thanks for all the ideas.

 

[BoilerBowHunter]

My favorite shank meat recipe for venison barbacoa tacos...

https://honest-food.net/barbacoa-recipe-venison/

 

[MountainFeral]

I have made osso bucco and liked it, but this year, I had to debone my elk to pack it out. So, I ended up with boneless shanks. I put it in the instant pot with a bunch of seasonings, and it was absolutely amazing. I might not ever make osso bucco again.

 

[Kenn]

How does everyone deal with bone chips when cutting it? All looks delicious.

I had the same problem even after cutting with a fine toothed reciprocal saw and rinsing them. I now filet the shank and cut it into chunks. Hard to describe how awful it is to bite into a tiny bone.

 

[InkedElkSlayer]

^^ agree.

Personally, I have always boned the shanks and have never tried cutting/cooking the bone on that specific cut.

In my experience, you have to be careful cooking the bones, especially ribs. Elk ribs CAN be excellent. But they can also have a tallow taste so thick that you need to scrape it off the roof of your mouth if you don’t do the process correctly… trial and error earlier in my cooking career. I am a LONG ways from being a rib specialist, but I’d bet the guys with the Traegers can make some awesome ribs if they care to pack them out.

 

[EricBender208]

I'll put shank in the instant pot.
Add some beans, salsa, onions and peppers and its great burrito fodder

I have no clue why but I laughed at “burrito fodder”

 

[Ucsdryder]

How does everyone deal with bone chips when cutting it? All looks delicious.

I do all my shanks boneless. I prefer the flavor. I have found that at times the bone marrow will give it a gamey flavor. I absolutely will not grind a shank, one of the better cuts of meat if you know what you’re doing in the kitchen.

 

[mobohunter]

If you arent slow cooking or Osso Buco you are missing out... Did my first Osso Buco this year, wont ever look back. MeatEater recipe book has an easy to follow recipe

 

[Caseknife]

I do all my shanks boneless. I prefer the flavor. I have found that at times the bone marrow will give it a gamey flavor. I absolutely will not grind a shank, one of the better cuts of meat if you know what you’re doing in the kitchen.

Think I will try boning them out this year. The problem I have is the sharp edges of the bone tend to tear through the freezer paper, boning them out would alleviate that issue.