Go to the Recipe: Braised and Glazed Lamb Shank
Should we score the meat like in the leg of lamb recipe?
Dear friends of the chefsteps team. We really have to talk about accididi of balsamic vinegar here. All the recepies with vinegar included need an extra eye on describing acididdi in percentages please or at least the name of the product u are using. This problem goes worldwide in the most cook books. People write about vinegger and give no extra information about accididi.
One of many Summer is comming if I am looking back ;-). I have that feeling. This year we will get to that Pacojet payed class. ;-) all the best.
@Hubert I'd suspect, since they are located in the United States, there balsamic vinegar is somewhere around 6% acidity. Most vinegars here are in the 4-7% range.
I assume you can use cheap balsamic vinegar for this; the good stuff is a good £12 a bottle.
Amazing. Thank u so much.
Love me some $2 balsamic vinegar from winco
Is it just me or am I missing a pre/post-sear step here? Clearly the shanks in the pictures have endured some browning at some point
@mannerisms there is no pre or post sear. The browning you see is coming from a 24 hour cook in the vinegar tomato mixture.
I don't love balsamic... can I use Red Wine instead? (not red wine vinegar) or will the balsamic mellow with the heat and time?
also it doesn't really matter after you reduce it that much. somehow the acidity doesn't increase from reduction as you would expect it to. i know it doesn't evaporate, so maybe the acidity breaks down somehow from cooking? for some reason reduced balsamic is not very acidic, idk how to explain it.
Just made the reduction. Seems way too acidic. Was aged balsamic needed? Please help
I find it hard to believe that there is no pre-searing going on here. Seems like an excellent opportunity to develop flavor that the chefsteps team would not pass up. Can anyone from ChefSteps clarify?
After reading some of the concerns with this recipe being too acidic, I was hesitant to use my large leg of lamb wondering if this recipe would fail to deliver a great end result. Nevertheless, I risked it because I think the chefs at ChefStep are very reliable sources. I made this yesterday and I would confidently say there are no worries whatsoever with adding the balsamic acidic flavour. This was a delicious recipe that everyone went for thirds. I will make it again and again. It was so easy, yet turned out a very sophisticated in flavour. Thank you team ChefSteps!
Vinegars in general will mellow with heat and time. I urge you to spring for really nice balsamic before you try red wine vinegar though. The good stuff is fantastic
5 rosemary sprigs and 5 garlic cloves for 1.5 LB. lamb shank? Is this correct? Has anyone made this? All comments just talk about the BV reduction. Also find it hard to believe this yields 4 servings.
I’m confused about the balsamic quantity in grams since it’s a liquid shouldn’t it be mls? When I convert the recipe to oz it tells me 1lb+ of balsamic - also a unit of weight not liquid
I just finished eating this an hour ago, and I can say it is an absolutely fantastic recipe. To my amateur palete it was slightly sweet yet also intensely savoury. Most other sous vide recipes I've seen for shanks call for a 48hr cook, I'm honestly not sure what more that could add, the meat here was melt-in-the-mouth.
To address some of the other comments, I was also nervous about using this much vinegar at once, but I decided to just trust the chefsteps crew. I was vaguely aware you could cook the acidicty out of balsamic vinegar but had never tested it like this. I did halve the quantities for the glaze, as I was only cooking two shanks. I was using regular cheapo balsamic from a UK supermarket, the label says 6% acidity.
The recipe really isn't kidding, you need to reduce the hell out of it, it will be as thick as warm syrup (can't think of a better description right now) by the time it's ready to go in the bag. I was tasting it all the way down, and just as it's reaching the end, the harshness of the vinegar melted away. Don't worry about cooling it too much, mine was still warm when bagged.
Try it, you won't be dissapointed.
I was confused on this as well. A bit of googling and it turns out they do it this way to ensure absolute consistency, as some liquids make it difficult to get a precise volume. For the same reason they don't use 'tablespoons' or 'cups' for powders.
But yes, it really is that much vinegar.
The recipe calls for approximately 1.5 pounds of lamb shank for 4 servings, or 6 oz. per person. Is this correct?
I made this over the weekend, and it was fantastic! I'm don't really like balsamic vinegar so I made the glaze with 50/50 balsamic and red wine vinegar.
I'm already making more as we speak, this time in bulk for meal prep next week.
I made this over the weekend, and it was fantastic! The only change I made was to use 50/50 balsamic and red wine vinegar.
I already have some more in the sous vide bath as I write this, and this time I'm making a lot of it to freeze and/or use for meal prep next week.
Thanks for the recipe.
Can I achieve a similar result with a whole leg of lamb? Have two pregnant women so looking for more along these results vs sliced mid rare.
Yes you can.
24 hours still long enough for a 4 pounder?
yea, at these times and temps the weight isn't going to effect you so much. it will be great.
Am making it with mashed celeriac and parsnips. So far so good.
I have made a lot of sous vide lamb. Shanks at 167°F/24H match a more traditional braise. This recipe seemed to dry the lamb out, but it was fun and I liked the sauce a lot mixed with the lamb. Need to try this with 135°F/72H variety to see it makes a difference. Overall definitely worth trying and would make for an easy meal
Wow, interesting. I was wondering the same. Just put mine in.
@Stephanie Goss @A Cook If you're measuring in volume, then it should be mL or whatever standard you're using. It's not in volume though. ChefSteps, for the most part, uses weight/mass due to the repeatability and accuracy weight offers that volumetric measurements does not. They made a few videos of it some while back.
It's really easy, just get a scale, hit the zero button, then stop pouring when the number you need comes up.
Have a 6# bone in lag and thinking of using a pomagranite molasses and garlic glaze, also have to haul to my sisters for the feast....so it would stay in a cooler for 2 hoiurs in the bag for the trip and finish there.....any thoughts on the Pom or what to add with it? Fennel, sumac? Or too muc competition for tast? Serve with Lemmon Yogurt?
I know this is 5 years old... Try a 30/70% reduction of a medium bodied red wine/pomegranate juice. Reduce on low heat (whisps of steam coming off reduction surface) after heating to a simmer. Tomato paste for sure.
you serve this off the bone??
