Description
Smoke-braised whole beef shank, based on the method from Jess Pryles.
Ingredients
- 1 whole beef shank, trimmed, cut, and tied back on the bone
- BBQ rub of your choice
- 1 large onion, thinly sliced
- 4 cups of braising liquid (we used 2 cups beef broth and 2 cups beer)
- Salt for seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat your smoker to 275°F (135C).
- Season your shank well with your favorite BBQ rub.
- Place the shank in the smoker with the probe from your Smoke X2 placed in the thickest part of the meat.
- Set up the air probe in your smoker to monitor the temperature. Set the low-temp alarm to 250°F (121°C) and the high-temp alarm to 300°F (149°C).
- Smoke the shank for 2 1/2 hours.
- After 2 1/2 hours, move the shank to a foil roasting pan that barely fits it. Add the sliced onions and braising liquid.
- Re-insert the probe, cover the pan with foil, be sure the meat high-temp alarm is set to 200°F (93°C) and continue to smoke.
- When your alarm sounds, check for temperature accuracy and for tenderness with your Thermapen®. This last part of the cook may take as long as seven more hours. Don’t rush it and don’t settle for any resistance to your Thermapen probe. You want absolute tenderness!
- Once the meat has passed your probe test, remove it from the smoker, take it out of the braising liquid (there will be significantly more of it now), and shred it. If it seems a bit dry, douse it with a cup or so of the braising liquid. Toss in some of the onions that braised with it. Season with salt, if needed.
- Serve how you see fit! Great as sandwiches or pot-roast style. Use the liquid for gravy or for dipping.
Notes
To save time, heat your braising liquid to nearly boiling right before adding it to the braising pan. Then you don’t have to bring it up to cooking temp in the smoker.
Also, we used fresh onions for this cook, but in the future, I would caramelize those first. This is about one and a half steps away from french onion soup in the pan, and using sauteed onions would get it that much closer and improve the flavor of your dipping juices even more.