Beef Shank Ragu

Beef shank ragu is a deep, silky meat sauce made from cross-cut beef shanks. Brown the shanks, soften onion, carrot and celery, add red wine and tomatoes, and braise them covered in a 300-degree oven for 3 to 3 1/2 hours, until the meat falls off the bone. Shred the meat into the sauce, push the marrow out of the bones and stir it in, then serve the ragu over pappardelle or soft polenta.

Shank is the lower leg: a hard-working muscle wrapped in connective tissue, with a round of marrow bone at its center. Cooked quickly, it is tough. Braised low and slow, the connective tissue melts into the sauce and gives it a glossy body, and the marrow adds a richness that boneless stew meat cannot.

At a glance: serves 6. Prep 20 minutes, cook about 4 1/4 hours, 3 to 3 1/2 of them in the oven.

Gray Shipley, who runs the farm, was describing what goes into a large gift box of beef when he said:

“cuts they're comfortable and familiar with and cuts that give them, uh, you know, something to go learn about, uh, one weekend when they're, when they're watching a game or having some friends over.”

Gray Shipley

He did not name shank, but for most cooks it is one of the second kind. This ragu suits the weekend he describes: a little browning at the start, three hours of the oven doing the work, and a big pot to share at the end.

Ingredients

• 3 cross-cut beef shanks, 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick (about 3 to 4 pounds in all)
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1 celery rib, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups dry red wine
• 1 can (28 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand
• 1 cup beef stock
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 sprig fresh rosemary, or 4 sprigs fresh thyme
• 1 pound pappardelle, or soft polenta, to serve
• 3/4 cup grated Parmesan, to serve
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 300 degrees with a rack in the lower third. Pat the shanks dry and season them all over with the salt and pepper.
2. Heat the oil in a large Dutch oven, at least 6 quarts, over medium-high heat. Brown the shanks for 4 to 5 minutes per side, until deep brown, working in batches if they do not fit without touching. Move them to a plate.
3. Pour off all but about 2 tablespoons of the fat. Turn the heat to medium, add the onion, carrot and celery with a pinch of salt, and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring, until soft. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes, until the paste darkens.
4. Pour in the wine, scrape up the browned bits from the bottom, and simmer until it has reduced by about half, about 5 minutes.
5. Add the tomatoes with their juice, the stock, bay leaves and rosemary. Return the shanks in a single layer with any juices from the plate. The liquid should come about three-quarters of the way up the meat. Bring it to a simmer.
6. Cover the pot and braise in the oven for 3 to 3 1/2 hours, turning the shanks once halfway through, until the meat falls away from the bone when you nudge it with a fork.
7. Lift the shanks onto a board. Spoon as much fat from the surface of the sauce as you can, and take out the bay leaves and herb stems.
8. When the shanks are cool enough to handle, pull the meat from the bones in large shreds, discarding any gristle that has not softened. Push the marrow out of each bone with the handle of a spoon, drop it into the sauce, and whisk until it melts in.
9. Stir the meat back into the sauce and simmer on the stove, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes, until thick enough to coat a spoon. Taste for salt and pepper.
10. Cook the pappardelle in a large pot of well-salted boiling water until just tender, saving 1 cup of the cooking water. Toss the pasta with the ragu, loosening it with a splash of pasta water, and serve with Parmesan and parsley.

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Braised beef shanks: why shank makes such a good ragu

Beef shanks, often sold as osso buco, bring three things to a braise that most cuts cannot. The meat is lean but laced with connective tissue, which slowly turns to gelatin and gives the sauce a body you can see on the spoon. The bone adds flavor as it cooks. And the marrow at the center melts into the sauce at the end, rounding it out without any cream or butter.

Braised beef shanks do not have to become ragu, either. Stop at step 7, leave the shanks whole, and serve each one on polenta with the sauce spooned over. That feeds 3 generously, and the leftovers make the ragu the next day.

How to tell the shanks are done

Go by texture, not by the clock. Shanks vary in size, and the meat is done when it slides off the bone with almost no effort and the thin bands of connective tissue have turned soft and translucent. If it still clings to the bone or feels tight, cover the pot and give it another 30 minutes. A braise is hard to overcook at 300 degrees; it is easy to undercook.

Stirring the marrow into the sauce

This is the small step that makes shank ragu taste different from one made with stew meat. After three hours the marrow is soft enough to slide out of the bone in one piece. Whisked into the hot sauce, it disappears and leaves the ragu richer and rounder. The empty bones still have flavor in them; the guide to beef bones below has ideas for them, and the nose-to-tail guide has more ways to use the less familiar parts.

Skimming, and making it ahead

Shank is lean, but the marrow and the browning fat add up, so skim the sauce before the meat goes back in. For the cleanest result, make the ragu a day ahead: refrigerate it overnight and lift the set fat from the top before reheating. If your braises often taste heavy, the guide to greasy braises below is worth a read. The ragu keeps covered in the refrigerator for a few days and freezes well for a few months.

Pappardelle or polenta?

Both are traditional with a slow meat ragu. Wide, flat pappardelle holds the shreds of beef in its folds. Soft polenta, cooked with a little butter and Parmesan, catches the sauce and makes a gentler, more rustic plate. Rigatoni, gnocchi or mashed potatoes all work too.

Food safety

USDA FSIS lists 145 degrees F, followed by a rest of at least 3 minutes, as the safe minimum internal temperature for beef. A braise passes that long before the shanks are tender, but check with an instant-read thermometer if you are unsure. Refrigerate leftovers promptly and reheat them to 165 degrees F, the FSIS figure for leftovers. See the FSIS Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart.