The funny thing is that I've had an aversion to beef pot roast because mom and grandma - despite their many other great qualities - didn't know how to properly cook a pot roast. Dry, tough, under-seasoned with mushy carrots and potatoes. But it's so easy - how could they have messed it up?
Anyway, never too late to learn, and I'm definitely a convert now that I've had 3 successes in recent variations on pot roast cooks.
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Braised shanks of most species is awesome! Well done, & done well!
Congrats!
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Love a good beef pot roast. Brown it, tenderize it, consume it. Gotta have rice.
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Center cut shank cook
I'll say right up front that it felt wrong to cook indoors, since I live in SoCal and it was a beautiful day out. I'd like to let the northeasterners live vicariously through me. But I was really busy and needed something that could mostly go on autopilot. So I took the path of least resistance, and it turned out better than expected.
I had 2 center cut shanks, a little over a pound each. In my enameled dutch oven, first seared them on the stove top. Once there was some good browning, I added beef broth, balsamic vinegar, garlic, rosemary, onion, bay leaf, salt, and coarse ground black pepper. Then I put in the oven at 250F with the lid on. Checked it from time to time, and it just got tougher and tougher. But finally, magically at about the 4 hour mark, the meat just fell apart.
I strained off the liquid into a skillet and reduced it by half. Meanwhile I pulled the meat chunks out from the rest of the solids, making sure to get the marrow out of the bones. Then poured the reduced broth over the meat.
I've never done exactly this cook before - pulls together some things I've done plus some internet tips, and I'm thrilled with the result. I'll definitely try more like this.
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