Is sheep to cute to be served at our tables or should we simply close our eyes? Let’s make some delicious Lamb Shank and enjoy the ride!

Lamb shank is the cheap cut of meat, given that we can get our hands on it, as lamb isn’t the cheapest of meats around generally. Its price may reflect the fact that sheep meat production requires the most land per 100g protein, showing even its bigger grazing companion, the beef behind.

What is lamb?

Lamb is the name of a sheep not older than 1 year old in countries where it matters. The US is not one of them so here people are allowed to call all sort of meat lamb as long as it belongs to the sheep.

Other countries, like New Zealand and the UK , make the naming system more restrictive,where they call “hogget” the two years old sheep and “mutton” the three years old ones. In Spain they make distinction between diets too and call the milk only diet, unwaned lambs “lechazo”.

Lechazos really are a treat with a remote flavor of lamb, masked with the milk so the very character of the meat lingers in the back of our tongue only as a reminder of what is that we are actually eating.

Whom lamb shank is for?

Due to the distinctive taste of the meat, not everybody is great fan of lamb, let alone hogget and mutton where the characteristics of the species are even more pronounced. In older animals the meat is also tougher, the connective tissues are stronger, and the meat is darker that makes the preparation process more elaborate.

The older meat makes it perfect candidate for slow cook dishes, like braised meat or stews while younger animals with more tender cuts are also prepared over open fire or grilled.

Lamb shanks belong to the former long-haul jobs. Luckily, as it is with stews, it doesn’t require too many skills but some patience and wine (partly for the dish and partly to drown our conscience until we finish such a delicious meal).

Ingredients

½ cup / 120ml Cooking oil
Lamb shanks (5lb / 2kg)
3 pieces / 400g Onion (finely diced)
2 pieces / 200g Carrot (finely diced)
1 stalk / 200g Celery (finely diced)
6 teaspoon / 30g Salt
3 cloves / 10g Garlic (finely diced)
21 oz / 600g Tomato (quartered)
2½ cup / 600ml Red wine
2 cups / 500ml Water
3 sprigs Thyme
2 Bay leaf

How to make Lamb shank

Heat some of the oil and sear the lamb shanks on all sides.
Add more oil then on high heat saute the diced onion, carrot, celery and salt until the onion gets a glassy / translucent look.
Add garlic, lower the heat and stir fry until the onion starts to caramelize, 10 – 15 minutes.
Increase the heat then add the diced up tomato. Stir-fry until the tomato starts to fall apart, 5 – 10 minutes.
Pour in the red wine, water, add the thyme and bay leaves too then bring it to boil.
Place the lid on, reduce the heat and simmer until the meat comes off the bone, about 2 hours.
Take the meat out, press the vegetables through a sieve if short on time, just blend them together.
Put the meat onto an ovenproof dish, ladle some sauce around and on top of the meat.
Place it under the broiler’s highest temperature until golden brown, about 15 minutes.