elkyinzer
WKR
Sunday evening I browned then braised some crosscut elk shanks in a blended mixture of chipotles in adobo, lime, garlic, cumin, and beer until the shanks were nice and broken down. Then I shredded the meat, reduced some of the braising liquid, and combined with some salt to taste. The first night we made Mexican street style tacos, then last night I made nachos with the leftovers (pictured).
I was attempting to copy Chipotle’s barbacoa, didn’t quite nail it but it was really good nonetheless. I don’t know if they use copious amounts of salt, msg, garlic or what but theirs really has more savory oomph while mine retained a little more of the braised meat character, which is not a bad thing and more true to the authentic Mexican versions I have tasted. The nachos especially were tremendous. Not the healthiest but I rarely take pictures of those meals, the bad stuff is more fun.
Game meat really translates well to authentic Mexican recipes and I suspect a lot were developed as such. Also to throw out some love for shanks…hands down my favorite cut of meat to braise on an animal, if you are grinding them you should really reconsider. Overall they rank close to my favorite, backstraps, but that’s really an apples to oranges comparison as you don’t cook them the same ways. Normally I do a pretty simple presentation with shanks over a polenta, mash, or risotto but my wife was not in the mood for that, and she always goes for tacos and it worked quite well.
