Braised Turkey Shanks Recipes

Steps:

• Put the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season the turkey and brown the leg (and, if you're using them, wing) portions on the skin side well, 10 minutes or more; turn and cook for another 2 minutes on the skinless side. Remove to a plate and brown the breasts in the same skillet, again mostly on the skin side; remove and keep them separate.
• Heat the oven to 300, and cook the bacon or pancetta (if using) in the remaining fat in the skillet until nearly crisp; remove with a slotted spoon. Cook the onions, mushrooms, carrots, celery and herbs, in batches if necessary, until beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer with the bacon or pancetta to a large roasting pan, then nestle the dark meat in there, leaving room for the breasts. Add stock or water to come about one-third to halfway up the sides of the thighs.
• Roast uncovered for about 90 minutes, checking occasionally to make sure liquid levels remain sufficiently high and stirring vegetables if they threaten to brown too much. When thigh meat is tender, place the breasts in the pan, and cook until tender, 30 to 45 minutes more, or until done. (They should register 155 on an instant-read thermometer.)
• Slice breast and thigh meat and serve on a platter with the vegetables garnished, if you like, with parsley.

Steps:

• Shanks: Marinade beef overnight, turning once. Remove beef from marinade, pat dry, and season with salt and pepper. Sear beef in oil on all sides in hot pan, set meat aside.
• Brown vegetables in same pan as meat. When vegetables are brown, place meat back in pan and cover with marinade. Bring to a boil. Cover and simmer in 325 degree F oven until meat is falling off bone, about 5 hours. Drain the meat and reserve the strained liquid.
• When done, place meat in container covered with strained cooking liquid. Let stand overnight in the refrigerator. Remove meat from cooking liquid. Slice 1/2-inch thick. Place in pan.
• Combine 4 cups liquid and demi-glace. Reduce to sauce consistency. Pour sauce over meat and reheat in a 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes.
• Serve meat topped with diced glazed carrots and garnish with parsley.
• Serving suggestion: 4 carrots, peeled, diced and glazed, chopped parsley.

Steps:

• Preheat the oil to 350 degrees F in the fryer.
• In a large stock pot or braising pot, add the olive oil. Season the shanks with salt and pepper. Season the flour with Essence. Dredge the shanks in the seasoned flour, coating each side completely. When the oil is hot, sear the shanks for 2 to 3 minutes on each side, or until very brown on all sides. Remove the shanks and set aside. Add the onions to the pan and saute for 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the celery and carrots and continue to saute for 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the garlic, bay leaves, and thyme. Cook for 1 minute. Deglaze the pan with the red wine, scraping the bottom and sides to loosen the browned particles. Add the stock. Bring the liquid up to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Add the shanks and continue to cook for about 2 hours, basting the shanks often, or until the sauce is stew-like and the meat starts to fall of the bone. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Place the parsnips in the fryer and fry until golden about 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent the parsnips from sticking together. Remove the parsnips from the oil and drain on a paper-lined plate. Season the parsnips with salt and pepper. To serve, mound the pudding in the center of the plate. Lay a few of the shanks on top of the potatoes and spoon some of the gravy over the top. Sprinkle with parsley and garnish with the fried parsnips.

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• 2. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Season shanks with salt and pepper, dredge in flour, and shake off excess. Add oil to pan and brown shanks all over, about 15 minutes. Transfer to a plate.
• 3. Add celery, onion, and carrots to pot and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender and brown, about 20 minutes. Stir in garlic, thyme, and rosemary and cook until fragrant, about 3 minutes. Add wine, increase heat to high, and scrape up browned bits in pan with a wooden spoon. Reduce heat and cook until wine lightly coats vegetables. Return shanks to pot, add broth, and bring to a simmer. Transfer pot to oven and cook, uncovered and turning shanks once about halfway through, until fork-tender, about 2 1/2 hours.
• 4. Transfer shanks to a plate and cover with foil to keep warm. Let sauce settle on stove top, about 10 minutes; skim fat. Bring to a boil, and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Return shanks to sauce; turn to coat and heat through. Spoon sauce and vegetables over meat, scatter parsley on top and serve. Serve shanks with polenta if desired.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400˚F.
• Season the lamb generously with salt. Coat a large sauté pan with olive oil and bring to medium-high heat. Add the lamb to the pan and brown well on all sides; this may take up to 20 minutes. This is an incredibly important step-it's where all the big brown flavors start to develop-DON'T rush it.
• While the lamb is browning, put the onions, carrots, celery, and garlic in a food processor and purée to a coarse paste; reserve.
• When the lamb shanks are very brown on all sides, remove them from the pan and transfer to a roasting pan. Ditch the fat, add a bit of fresh olive oil to the sauté pan, and add the puréed veggies. Season generously with salt, and cook until the veggies are very brown and a crud has formed on the bottom of the pan, 8 to 10 minutes. Scrape the crud and let it reform. Don't rush this step.
• Add the tomato paste and cook, stirring frequently, until it starts to brown, 1 to 2 minutes.
• Add the wine, bring it to a boil (BTB), and stir frequently to scrape the crud from the bottom of the pan (this is the big-money flavor). Continue cooking until reduced by half, 3 to 4 minutes.
• Add 3 to 4 cups water to the pan and stir to loosen the mixture. Taste to make sure it's delicious and reseason if needed. It will by no means be done, but it should taste good. Pour this over the shanks in the roasting pan. The liquid should come two-thirds of the way up the shanks; if it doesn't add more water. Toss in the rosemary, bay leaves, and thyme bundle, cover with aluminum foil, and cook in the oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours. Check the shanks every 45 minutes, turn them, and if the liquid has reduced significantly, add more water. When the meat is done, it will be very tender but not falling off the bone.
• Remove the foil for the last 30 minutes of cooking time for maximum browning and to allow the liquid to reduce and thicken up. Serve with lots of sauce.
• BROWNING AND BRAISING: Because Brown Food Tastes Good!
• When I was in culinary school, I didn't get braising; it seemed like a pain in the neck. I had to go through so many steps to get started and I just didn't think it was worth the trouble. Now that I get it, it's my favorite cooking technique by far. Trust me: Braising is the technique that will showcase your skill as a cook! It doesn't matter what you're braising-if you follow my method you will make a beautiful, brown braise every time.
• First, season generously and brown your protein well-whether it's a shank or a short rib, take your time. This is where the first big brown flavors develop and it takes patience-so don't rush it. What's important at this point is what's happening in your pan, not on the clock.
• Once your meat is nice and brown, remove it, ditch the fat, add a splash of fresh olive oil to the pan, add your puréed veggies, and season again. These vegetables are what we call soffritto and they're the base of almost all braised dishes. Like the meat, you want to brown the crap out of the soffritto. Cook it until you see a crud start to form on the bottom of the pan, then scrape off the crud and let it form again. This is where we take things to the edge of disaster and yank them back. Food is the most flavorful one step before disaster!
• After the soffritto is nice and brown, add your wine and tomato paste. Let the wine reduce by half, toss the protein back in the pan, and add enough water to cover it by about two-thirds-it should be nice and soupy. Then toss in a thyme bundle and bay leaves, bring it to a boil (BTB), reduce it to a simmer (RTS), and cook until things are nice and tender, usually a couple of hours.
• Properly braised food should be very tender but still maintain its integrity and shape-it should NOT be falling off the bone. So check your braise along the way, and if the liquid level gets low, add a bit more water until the meat is perfectly tender and the sauce is super-flavorful. Follow this basic braising technique and your brown food will taste great . . . every time!