Beef Shank Soup in a Pressure Cooker

Beef shank soup in a pressure cooker gives you something that normally takes a whole afternoon on the stove: a rich, beefy broth and meat so tender it falls off the bone, in about two hours. You brown two cross-cut shanks, cook them under pressure with onion, garlic and herbs, pull the meat off the bones, and finish the soup with carrots, potatoes and cabbage.

Shank is cut from the leg, one of the hardest-working muscles on the animal. It is full of connective tissue that makes it tough if you rush it and silky if you do not. Each cross-cut piece has a round of marrow bone in the middle, and that marrow goes into the soup too.

At a glance: serves 4 to 6. Prep 20 minutes, cook about 2 hours, most of it hands-off.

Gray Shipley, who runs the farm, was talking about what people find when they get a mix of beef cuts, some familiar and some not:

“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

Shank sits in the second group for most cooks. It is a good one to learn on, because the pressure cooker does the hard part, and a pot of this soup is just the thing to have going on a weekend when friends are coming over.

Ingredients

• 2 cross-cut beef shanks (osso buco), 1 1/2 to 3 1/2 pounds total
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil or beef tallow
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 8 cups water, divided
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme, or 4 sprigs fresh
• 3 carrots, sliced 1/2 inch thick
• 2 celery ribs, sliced
• 2 medium Yukon Gold potatoes (about 3/4 pound), cut into 3/4-inch cubes
• 2 cups chopped green cabbage
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice or red wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Instructions

1. Pat the shanks dry. The thin membrane around the edge of each one tightens as it cooks, so snip it with scissors in 3 or 4 places to help the shanks lie flat. Season them with 1 teaspoon of the salt and the pepper.
2. Set an electric pressure cooker to Saute on high, or set a stovetop pressure cooker over medium-high heat. Heat the oil and brown the shanks for 4 to 5 minutes per side, then move them to a plate.
3. Add the onion and cook for 4 minutes, stirring. Add the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Pour in 1 cup of the water and scrape the bottom of the pot clean, which keeps the cooker from scorching.
4. Return the shanks and any juices to the pot. Add the remaining 7 cups water, the bay leaves, thyme and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt, staying below the pot's max line. Lock the lid and cook at high pressure for 50 minutes: 45 minutes for small shanks, 60 for thick ones.
5. Let the pressure come down naturally for 20 minutes, then release the rest carefully.
6. Lift the shanks onto a board. Pull the meat off the bones, discard any gristle, and cut the meat into bite-size pieces. Push the marrow out of the center of each bone with a small spoon or the tip of a knife and stir it into the broth. Remove the bay leaves and thyme stems, and skim off some of the fat if you like.
7. Add the carrots, celery, potatoes and cabbage to the broth. Lock the lid and cook at high pressure for 3 minutes. Let the pressure come down naturally for 5 minutes, then release the rest carefully, in short bursts.
8. Stir the meat back in and simmer on Saute for 2 minutes to heat it through. Season with salt, add the lemon juice and parsley, and serve.

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What is beef shank?

Beef shank is the lower part of the leg. Cut across the bone into thick rounds, it is sold as osso buco, the cut named for the Italian braise. Each piece is a ring of lean, well-worked meat around a section of bone with marrow in the center, all of it laced with connective tissue. Cooked quickly, that tissue makes shank chewy. Cooked long and moist, it melts into the meat and the liquid around it, which is why shank makes such a rich soup.

The marrow is soft and rich once it is cooked, close to butter in texture. Stirred into the broth, it melts and gives the soup a rounder, fuller body. If you would rather eat it on its own, spread it on toast with a pinch of salt.

Beef shank broth

If all you want is broth, follow the recipe through step 6, then strain the liquid instead of adding the vegetables. Cool it and refrigerate it. The next day it will have set to a soft jelly, with a layer of fat on top to lift off. Shank broth is meatier than a broth made from bones alone, because the meat cooks in it, and the pulled meat is good for tacos, hash or a sandwich.

Pressure cooker times for beef shank

Fifty minutes at high pressure suits most shanks about 1 1/2 inches thick. Small or thin shanks are tender in 45 minutes; thick shanks may need 60. If the meat does not pull easily off the bone when you open the pot, lock the lid again and cook for another 10 minutes. A stovetop pressure cooker runs at a higher pressure than an electric one, so take about 10 minutes off each time. Always let the pressure come down naturally for at least 15 to 20 minutes: a quick release on a full pot of soup can spray hot broth out of the valve.

Beef shank soup on the stove

No pressure cooker? Brown the shanks in a Dutch oven, add the water and aromatics, and bring it to a bare simmer. Cover and cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until the meat falls off the bone. Then pull the meat, add the vegetables and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes, until the potatoes are tender, before stirring the meat back in.

Food safety

USDA FSIS lists 145 degrees F, followed by a rest of at least 3 minutes, as the safe minimum internal temperature for whole cuts of beef. Shank cooked under pressure until it falls off the bone is far past that figure. When you reheat leftover soup, bring it to 165 degrees F, the FSIS figure for leftovers. See the FSIS Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart.