Braised Pork Shanks

Poole's: Recipes and Stories from a Modern Diner

While it was difficult for us to find pork shanks, everything else was at least easy to get. It used the roasted garlic butter again to finish the sauce, so luckily that recipe made a lot!

Captions

[00:03]: hello and welcome to cooking the books
[00:06]: with Heather this week we are going to
[00:08]: be working out of the pools diner
[00:10]: cookbook and we're going to be using our
[00:12]: pools cure again that we made for a
[00:16]: previous recipe and we're going to be
[00:19]: making her braised pork shanks now we
[00:23]: had a little trouble finding them but we
[00:24]: did go to a butcher shop and we got
[00:26]: these really large ones it's a little
[00:30]: bit more than she called for but that's
[00:32]: good because there's a recipe in the
[00:34]: book as well for leftovers from this so
[00:38]: hopefully we'll have enough left over
[00:39]: when we're done to make that we'll plan
[00:43]: on it but we'll see our kids can be
[00:46]: pretty big eaters sometimes but the
[00:49]: first step is to rub these with the
[00:52]: pool's cure and let them sit overnight
[00:54]: in the refrigerator so that is what I'm
[00:59]: going to be doing now I'm gonna make
[01:02]: this easier for me not not to get porky
[01:06]: and I'm going to try to keep this hand
[01:09]: touching the pork and this hand not so
[01:13]: that's the plan
[01:15]: about a tablespoon per per pork shank
[01:23]: and I'm just gonna put all this out and
[01:27]: then rub it I think that'll work better
[01:34]: even though it's on the sheet we'll be
[01:39]: able to pick that up so I'm gonna call
[01:44]: that good and I'm gonna get both of my
[01:45]: hands
[01:46]: porky I think at this point because that
[01:50]: will make it easier to get it all over
[01:52]: yeah change my mind so I'm just gonna
[02:01]: try to get it all over all of the sides
[02:06]: this is salt and sugar and herbs and
[02:12]: some orange so I'll link i'll link that
[02:17]: recipe here as well so you can go and
[02:24]: see exactly what's in it but it smells
[02:25]: very orange e very herbaceous and this
[02:29]: is going to be rinsed off before we cook
[02:34]: them so so that is a pretty good job
[02:41]: honestly getting care all over it as
[02:46]: much as I possibly could we got a few
[02:48]: little pieces hanging off here but it's
[02:52]: good all right so I'm gonna wash my
[02:55]: hands and then in the recipe she says to
[03:00]: put these on the sheet like this cover
[03:03]: it with plastic wrap and put it in the
[03:04]: refrigerator overnight for 12 hours it's
[03:10]: gonna be a little bit more than 12 hours
[03:11]: I think for us when we start not too
[03:16]: much though because this will cook for a
[03:18]: long time so we'll have to start early
[03:21]: but I don't have room in my refrigerator
[03:23]: or a sheet tray right now so I've got a
[03:29]: very large zip top bag that I can then
[03:35]: put in my neat meat drawer which is
[03:36]: where these came from so they should fit
[03:38]: in that so I think that'll be fine
[03:41]: and we'll see you tomorrow our pork
[03:46]: shank sat in the refrigerator overnight
[03:49]: in a plastic bag very large plastic bag
[03:53]: because these are very large think it
[03:54]: was two and a half gallon for your
[03:56]: reference I have ripped them wrench the
[03:59]: Cure off of them and dried them or rinse
[04:02]: them as best I can you can still see
[04:04]: some little bits of bay leaf and thyme
[04:07]: on them but that's okay we're going to
[04:09]: put bay leaf and thyme in the stock too
[04:11]: so now we're going to lightly salt them
[04:14]: and pepper
[04:30]: there is there was no pepper in the cure
[04:32]: so our first step after this is going to
[04:44]: be to brownies so I'll meet you back at
[04:49]: the stove all right we're ready to brown
[04:52]: our pork shanks and I have some oil
[04:55]: neutral vegetable oil in this pot
[04:58]: Express using nine port Dutch oven I
[05:00]: only have an 8 quart and these are
[05:03]: really large so what might have to end
[05:05]: up switching them around and doing two
[05:09]: basses very loud side we're gonna Brown
[05:13]: these on all sides keep a nice brown
[05:17]: crust to be careful the sugar in the
[05:19]: cure can burn
[05:28]: so we're just waiting for them to brown
[05:29]: at this point we're not trying to put
[05:31]: them through was getting some color on
[05:33]: your cup flavor when I'm done I'm gonna
[05:38]: put them right back on the same tray
[05:40]: because they're going to keep cooking
[05:42]: after this so having these all for
[05:47]: fitness is not going to be a problem
[05:54]: he says five to six minutes per side and
[05:59]: I'm gonna have to do few batches because
[06:04]: they're very large
[06:06]: so yeah I've browned my pork shanks I'm
[06:13]: still worried about being able to fit
[06:15]: everything in here we'll take that as it
[06:17]: comes but now we're supposed to put in
[06:19]: onions and garlic I have the garlic held
[06:23]: along the equator like we've done
[06:25]: several times some of my halves didn't
[06:29]: stay together as you can see I'll do my
[06:33]: best with those again and my onion is
[06:39]: cut into eight so we're going to let
[06:42]: this cook for about five minutes and
[06:44]: Silva until they start to caramelize
[06:46]: it's pretty high there's already some
[06:48]: Brown that's going on that shit's
[06:50]: happening quickly and then we're going
[06:53]: to stir it may use a wooden spoon
[06:57]: because later I'm gonna go ahead and
[07:03]: start with that already so stir
[07:08]: occasionally get these caramelize we're
[07:12]: gonna strain these out laters for the
[07:14]: papers don't matter
[07:16]: cook bake for about five minutes before
[07:18]: we add anything else our pan was really
[07:22]: hot so it really did not take long I
[07:24]: think she says ten minutes but it
[07:25]: probably took more like five for us for
[07:27]: us to get this nice brown on the bottom
[07:31]: onion and now I'm going to add just a
[07:39]: [Music]
[07:44]: little bit and then keep the garlic off
[08:29]: the bottom
[08:32]: already so five minutes this has been
[08:39]: cooking for a while starting to get
[08:41]: brown line those vegetables and I don't
[08:43]: want more there's some burning goat
[08:45]: happening on the bottom but I don't want
[08:46]: anymore
[08:46]: so I'm going to go ahead and add a whole
[08:49]: bottle of white wine
[09:01]: and now that things are a little bit
[09:03]: quieter I'll tell you about this wine I
[09:05]: decided to go with a Pinot Grigio or
[09:09]: Sauvignon Blanc something not sweet kind
[09:12]: of crisp that's what I usually cook with
[09:14]: and my husband picked up this Biltmore
[09:17]: wine it's a North Carolina they're on
[09:20]: the Biltmore Estate and they make pretty
[09:23]: decent wine it's not very expensive
[09:24]: about ten dollars for this bottle so
[09:27]: that's what we're going with today and
[09:30]: we're going to scrape up all of the
[09:34]: stuff on the bottom here just to get it
[09:38]: get all of the caramelization into our
[09:41]: stock into our dish our braising liquid
[09:47]: and here's where I am going to deviate
[09:54]: from the recipe a little bit because we
[09:58]: looked at this we looked at this ours
[10:01]: are bigger than she suggested we decided
[10:03]: this is not going to all fit in the pan
[10:07]: with the water that's supposed to go in
[10:10]: so we're gonna so we decided we're going
[10:14]: to separate this into two pans because
[10:16]: it certainly is not going to all fit in
[10:18]: here with eight cups of water so what
[10:24]: I'm going to do now that we have scraped
[10:25]: up everything off of this pan I have
[10:27]: this other Dutch oven heating just so
[10:32]: it's not cold and we'll we're gonna
[10:34]: separate it at this point so now I have
[10:41]: to kinda half-and-half this mixture so
[10:47]: watch me figure that out all right
[10:59]: I'm gonna call that half-ish and so now
[11:07]: I'm going to return the pork shanks to
[11:12]: the paintin
[11:12]: so I'm gonna try to put my larger ones
[11:15]: in this pot which is has a little bit
[11:17]: more room they're very heavy my smaller
[11:23]: ones over here towards just a little bit
[11:25]: smaller and now I'm gonna add water half
[11:33]: to each of these pans I think that would
[11:45]: be good so we're going to boil these
[11:50]: we're gonna stir this up a little bit
[11:52]: both hands just get everything mixed
[11:54]: together and then we're going to
[11:55]: increase the heat to high to bring it to
[11:57]: a boil quickly probably could have fit
[11:60]: three in here but I'm pretty sure four
[12:02]: wouldn't it work three of this size so
[12:04]: anyway oh so we're bringing them to a
[12:10]: boil we're reducing them to a simmer and
[12:12]: then we're gonna put the lids on and put
[12:15]: them in the oven for three hours so yeah
[12:19]: once they're to simmer put them in the
[12:21]: oven I have that preheated at 303 25 nan
[12:29]: convection almost all of her recipes
[12:32]: tell you to bake things in a convection
[12:35]: oven first but she will give you the
[12:37]: translation to non convection so almost
[12:41]: at a boil here okay this has come to a
[12:44]: boil I am going to just reduce the heat
[12:48]: a little bit starting to simmer so this
[12:52]: is ready to go in the oven
[12:53]: and I'm gonna do the same thing with
[12:55]: this and we'll meet you back here in
[12:58]: about three hours
[12:59]: so my pork shanks for any oven for this
[13:03]: one was in
[13:03]: for three hours and it seemed okay she
[13:06]: says the meat should have little to no
[13:09]: resistance when you when you poke it
[13:13]: with a knife so I tried that the larger
[13:16]: ones in this pot were needed a little
[13:20]: more time so I'll let them go another 30
[13:21]: minutes and then they were about the
[13:23]: same now I need to strain the liquid and
[13:27]: because I have two pots I think that's
[13:30]: gonna be helpful
[13:30]: we'll see so what I'm gonna do these
[13:34]: have been sitting here for a while so
[13:36]: they should be relatively cool but still
[13:40]: warm this one holds heat very well so
[13:44]: what I'm gonna do is put everything from
[13:49]: this pot in here and then strain it into
[13:51]: this pot that's my plan so you see
[13:55]: there's still steam coming off of them
[13:57]: so they're still pretty warm okay
[14:03]: so what I'm going to do is take out the
[14:07]: meat because that's what she says to do
[14:12]: take them out cover them to foil so they
[14:14]: stay warm while you do this but I'm not
[14:18]: going to bother with that really these
[14:21]: are huge these are absolutely huge I
[14:25]: don't know if I can hold them all at
[14:27]: once I'm going to put them in my
[14:30]: microwave that usually keeps things kind
[14:33]: of warm the lights been on it's a little
[14:35]: warm in there
[14:37]: the meat is kind of falling off the bone
[14:40]: it's gonna be delicious just gonna stack
[14:45]: it up this is I need like two too big
[14:52]: plates for this it's kind of crazy all
[14:56]: right
[14:56]: there we go
[15:01]: the media taken care of I'm going to
[15:05]: these are fine I'm going to dump this in
[15:09]: here this is the worst part of making
[15:20]: any kind of stock or braze thing in my
[15:24]: opinion is straining it out when you if
[15:28]: you're dealing with a lot of more liquid
[15:32]: and yeah stuff alright so we've got that
[15:39]: now got my largest strainer and I'm
[15:44]: going to just ladle into here because
[15:51]: the point of this is we are going to
[15:55]: reduce the liquid I am cleaning we're
[16:02]: gonna have leftovers and there is a
[16:04]: recipe that you can make quick lift it
[16:06]: with the leftovers from this one but she
[16:09]: says not to use the reduced sauce that
[16:13]: you make here but instead to save some
[16:16]: of the liquid as it is now to use so I'm
[16:24]: gonna take out the amount that I need
[16:26]: for that recipe before I reduce it so
[16:32]: now I need to measure out the amount I
[16:33]: need for the other recipes I need to
[16:35]: look it up ones like it only says I need
[16:38]: 1/2 of a cup I'm gonna almost fill this
[16:42]: up just to it'll be more than I need but
[16:44]: I'd rather have a little bit extra at
[16:46]: that point than not and there's so much
[16:50]: here that it's not going to affect my
[16:51]: sauce at all so
[16:54]: now we just need to reduce this I'm
[16:58]: gonna clean up my stove once again now
[17:00]: we're gonna bring this up to a simmer
[17:02]: and reduce it by half that's going to
[17:06]: take a little bit so we'll be back when
[17:12]: it's reduced we've reduced sauces before
[17:15]: so bring it up to a boil reduce it to a
[17:17]: simmer or let it go until you think it's
[17:19]: at about half and we'll be back then so
[17:23]: I've let this braising liquid that we
[17:25]: strained go for it's been probably half
[17:28]: an hour or so just to make sure I think
[17:31]: we're going to call it halfway what
[17:34]: we're gonna do now is take it off of the
[17:35]: heat I don't really have a non hot place
[17:38]: to put it because other things going on
[17:41]: but my burner doesn't stay hot that long
[17:45]: and we're going to swirl in some roasted
[17:48]: garlic butter
[17:50]: we made that for another recipe
[17:55]: previously so I'll link that up here
[17:58]: down there both places probably
[17:60]: hopefully and that is just going to
[18:03]: finish our sauce here with fish with the
[18:06]: butter it's already pretty fatty from
[18:10]: the pork but because we didn't strain
[18:16]: that fat out or you get the fat out of
[18:19]: it like because she didn't say to so and
[18:22]: the only other thing we have to do at
[18:24]: this point is taste it for salt and add
[18:28]: some if we think it's necessary so I
[18:30]: should have gotten myself a spoon for
[18:34]: that but I'll go do that now and we'll
[18:37]: taste it and see if it needs salt
[18:47]: I think it's plenty salty after having
[18:51]: been reduced even though we didn't add
[18:52]: any salt but beyond what was on the pork
[18:55]: I think it's good the pork and the cure
[18:59]: so we're gonna plate it up and we'll
[19:01]: show you how it looks and we'll let you
[19:03]: know what we think of it in just a bit
[19:14]: on this episode of cooking the books
[19:16]: with Heather you watch me make the
[19:18]: braised pork shanks out of the pools
[19:20]: diner cookbook and this was let's see
[19:26]: this required one no wait
[19:28]: two extra recipes because it needed the
[19:32]: roasted garlic butter which we'd already
[19:36]: made for a previous recipe so we had
[19:38]: that which was good and also required
[19:41]: the pool's cure which I believe we'd
[19:45]: already made as well which is one of the
[19:47]: reasons why we decided to make this so
[19:50]: those two recipes relatively easy the
[19:55]: hardest part about this recipe was
[19:57]: finding the pork shanks so I normally
[20:02]: shop at sort of a mid-level grocery
[20:04]: store not like a Whole Foods but also
[20:09]: not like around here a Food Lion is sort
[20:12]: of one of the doesn't have fancy food
[20:16]: kind of grocery stores I shop it's sort
[20:19]: of a mid tier some fancy foods but not
[20:21]: all the all of them like a whole foods
[20:23]: generally has anyway couldn't find it
[20:26]: there couldn't find it at the butcher
[20:30]: shop the butcher counter at our like
[20:33]: big-box club store just had to go to a
[20:40]: butcher for it might have been able to
[20:42]: get it from Whole Foods didn't try the
[20:45]: butcher shop we're sort of on the way
[20:47]: anyway to there so and we didn't need
[20:51]: anything else so finding the pork shanks
[20:54]: was the most difficult part for us in
[20:57]: our area it's just not something that
[20:59]: regular grocery store sort of carries on
[21:02]: a regular basis I think I've seen it
[21:05]: there before but not very often anyway I
[21:09]: think we really really liked it the
[21:11]: sauce that it made was super gelatin so
[21:16]: you had a lot of gelatin in it we used
[21:18]: some of the extra because it made a lot
[21:20]: of sauce we used some of the extra for
[21:23]: other things
[21:25]: made some gravy for other things other
[21:27]: times with it sort of thickened it up a
[21:29]: little bit more with some flour really
[21:32]: delicious and I look forward to using
[21:36]: the leftovers we went ahead and froze
[21:38]: those leftovers with some of the the
[21:43]: liquid the braising liquid before we
[21:45]: reduced it for another recipe so look
[21:48]: out for that sometime in the relatively
[21:51]: near future haven't made it yet but
[21:52]: looking forward to it so yeah all you
[21:55]: really need is a Dutch oven and an oven
[21:59]: at a low heat pretty good so we give
[22:03]: this one a thumbs-up kids loved it we
[22:06]: loved it
[22:06]: not too hard little time-consuming but
[22:09]: not nearly as bad as the short ribs so
[22:13]: if you enjoyed watching me make this
[22:16]: please give me a thumbs up and come back
[22:19]: subscribe watch me make something else
[22:21]: next week
[22:22]: [Music]