Braised Vension Shanks Recipe

I've been experimenting lately with ways to make my deer butchering more efficient.  Last year I decided to vacuum pack and freeze these two deer shanks whole instead of trimming and grinding it for other uses as I would typically do.  Researching Osso Buco recipes, I decided to give the basic principles a try with a whole shank instead of cutting them into rounds.  I was very pleased with the results.  Because I had a squirrel quartered and frozen, I decided to also add that to the recipe and even a tough old squirrel came out sooo good!  I may even do a repeat of just squirrel if I can get a few more.

This particular cut of meat from a wild deer is about the toughest and most sinewy chunk of meat to cook.  It is even a chore to cut it from the bone to feed the grinder!  

The first step I took was to coat the meat copiously in salt and pepper, one could also coat with the flour at this point.  I heated up the iron skillet on the outdoor BBQ to sear it, so as not to smoke up the kitchen.  A couple teaspoons of olive oil in the pan.  Next time I will use a larger skillet also.

 

After browning I de-glazed the pan with a little venison stock that I had previously canned. I poured everything into a large casserole dish with: 

1 cup of wine (I used persimmon wine I had made)

1 cup of garlic sausage Prego tomato sauce.

cup or so of diced carrots

2 cloves of minced garlic

Half a small sweet onion diced 

1 teaspoon of thyme.

1 teaspoon of salt

Ground black pepper

teaspoon of lemon juice

2 tablespoons of minced parsley

1 small can of diced tomato

1/4 cup of all purpose flour

 

Here is everything ready for the oven.  I put the pan in covered at 325 degrees for around 4 hours. 

 

You could also use a heavy dutch oven, but since I was at home I used the Corningware.  This recipe would also work well in the ground slow cooking at camp which I intend to try at some point.

It came out of the oven looking like this:

This dish was super tasty and tender.  I was highly pleased and even the squirrel came out fork tender and so very savory.  The liquid was just the correct thickness for a light gravy.  Pair this with some rice, noodles, or some mashed potatoes and you have a super home cooked meal I would venture to say that even those that "do not like venison" would probably enjoy!