Shank meat....what do you do with it??

[bigdub257]

I can it.  Add a beef bullion cube to each jar. Tendons melt away and is very tender, plus it lasts much longer than freezing.   

[Sneaky]

Once you understand how to use them, they are the most versatile cut on the whole animal. The same goes for neck meat. Braised in flavorful liquid the options are endless. I like braising them in a dutch oven until they are fall apart tender and cooking rice or potatoes in the braising liquid for a one pot meal. I regret ever grinding them but the only person here who is wrong is the guy who voted to toss them.

[Okanagan]

There is a reason people invented grinders...

The taste is great in many of these ways to cook shank, but all of them are describing how to overcome the tough and tangled fibers of the ingredient. All seem to take a long time to cook and get table ready.  I'll gladly sup on shank at your table and say bravo to you who prepare it well, but one of my life choices is to not put that much time into so little complicated meat.  Go for it. 

[Angry Perch]

For us tendon is an attribute, not a deficiency. We routinely buy beef tendon to use in stock and braising liquid as it adds incredible mouth feel and valuable nutrients.

[Fidelk]

One of my favorite chinese dishes was Beef Tendon Chow Fun.......with a jar of black bean hot sauce.

[pianoman9701]

There is a reason people invented grinders...

The taste is great in many of these ways to cook shank, but all of them are describing how to overcome the tough and tangled fibers of the ingredient. All seem to take a long time to cook and get table ready.  I'll gladly sup on shank at your table and say bravo to you who prepare it well, but one of my life choices is to not put that much time into so little complicated meat.  Go for it.

It's also the reason some of us learned to cook decently. A bit like hunting, sometimes a long effort is well worth the wait.

[Karl Blanchard]

They do take time to cook but it's not like it's even remotely hard. Season, sear, add liquid, and into the oven at 250° for 5 or 6 hours. And that's just a dummy version of the endless possibilities with braising cuts.

 I watched a random YouTube video of a guy making Mississippi pot roast the other day and he used bottom round. It was the driest chunk of meat I've ever seen. Replace that with a neck roast, make a gravy out of the drippings, and serve over rice and now you've done something. Half gallon of water to choke down your chalky roast not required 

Cooking a good meal is immensly rewarding. If it takes a bit more time and effort so be it.

Another thing to note is your burger meat is only as good as the cuts you put into it. I'd much rather grind whole muscle groups and get a really quality burger then use cuts with lots of connective tissue that make a lesser quality burger but excel in the braising department 

[Jonathan_S]

There is a reason people invented grinders...

The taste is great in many of these ways to cook shank, but all of them are describing how to overcome the tough and tangled fibers of the ingredient. All seem to take a long time to cook and get table ready.  I'll gladly sup on shank at your table and say bravo to you who prepare it well, but one of my life choices is to not put that much time into so little complicated meat.  Go for it.

 

1) take off bone (or don't)
2) put in oven or slow cooker

[Angry Perch]

They do take time to cook but it's not like it's even remotely hard. Season, sear, add liquid, and into the oven at 250° for 5 or 6 hours. And that's just a dummy version of the endless possibilities with braising cuts.

 I watched a random YouTube video of a guy making Mississippi pot roast the other day and he used bottom round. It was the driest chunk of meat I've ever seen. Replace that with a neck roast, make a gravy out of the drippings, and serve over rice and now you've done something. Half gallon of water to choke down your chalky roast not required 

Cooking a good meal is immensly rewarding. If it takes a bit more time and effort so be it.

Another thing to note is your burger meat is only as good as the cuts you put into it. I'd much rather grind whole muscle groups and get a really quality burger then use cuts with lots of connective tissue that make a lesser quality burger but excel in the braising department 

It's like someone doing pulled pork with a loin. Don't walk away. Run! The viscosity that connective tissue adds to a sauce is irreplaceable. 

[pd]

Shank meat is one of my favorite.  I am not kidding.  It amazes me that people don't know this.

Use a pressure cookers.  The result is not dissimilar to P-Man's sous vide method.  Canning will do the same, of course.

For deer I tend to bone everything, and shank is no different.  Throw the shank meat in a pressure cooker with root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, turnips, whatever you like).  I like a sprig of rosemary as well.  Cook for 30 minutes or so.  The meat will be tender, but the tendons will be gelatinous.  Absolutely delicious.  No sauce needed, just salt (not iodized, of course), and black pepper.  Heavenly.

[Taco280AI]

Will have to try it next year. Think some shank got ground into dog food this year.

[pickardjw]

Say a guy doesn't have access to a band saw. I assume you can buy food grade stainless blades for a hacksaw. Do you score the meat with a knife and saw the bone or just take the hacksaw to the whole thing? Maybe while frozen?

[Karl Blanchard]

Say a guy doesn't have access to a band saw. I assume you can buy food grade stainless blades for a hacksaw. Do you score the meat with a knife and saw the bone or just take the hacksaw to the whole thing? Maybe while frozen?

score and saw. I despise bones though so anything I do is boneless.

[wadu1]

Say a guy doesn't have access to a band saw. I assume you can buy food grade stainless blades for a hacksaw. Do you score the meat with a knife and saw the bone or just take the hacksaw to the whole thing? Maybe while frozen?

I use a meat saw, frozen is the easiest way to cut them. Just make sure you clean off the bone particles.

FYI, they are not expensive, all SS at Home Depot $36.

[Sitka_Blacktail]

I'm with the OP. Slow cook those shanks all day with veges and you have a fine stew.  Right up there with Neck N Noodles.  When I don't keep them whole to slow cook, They go in the burger pile.  Tossing them is a sin.