Portuguese Braised Deer Shank
January 19, 2010 | Updated August 01, 2022
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Nothing like rainy days — days and days of rain — to bring out the braised meat urge in me. Storms slow us all down, and there must be some sort of aromatherapy going on when you fill your home with the smell of slowly cooking goodness. On such days, braised deer shank really does it for me.
There is nothing quite like a shank, whether it be lamb, beef, veal or, yes, deer. For the hunters out there, we all know that we really shouldn’t waste a deer shank, but shanks have so much sinew and connective tissue there really isn’t much to do with them. So most of us grind it for burger meat.
This is a shame, as my shank-eating friends will attest. Shanks, frankly, suck if not cooked slowly and for a long, long time. The only other thing you can do with a deer shank besides braise it is to put them in a stock, or the classic Taiwanese beef noodle soup. But well-browned deer shank, bathed in aromatic juices and served falling off the bone? Seriously good stuff.
Shanks always need a good sauce, but which sauce?
You need something bold for a shank, and I immediately thought about a shank recipe from my friend David Leite in his book The New Portuguese Table. 
Leite’s recipe has includes a lot of warm spices — cloves, cinnamon, allspice — as well as molasses. I love molasses.
Naturally I can’t leave well enough alone, so I modified Leite’s recipe by adding chiles and juniper berries, doubling the red wine called for and by finely pureeing the sauce at the end. Why puree? Because you can use the leftover sauce to dress pasta.
Typical sides for a braised deer shank would be a mashed thing and a green thing. Why mess with the formula? I really like mashed celery root, maybe with a couple tablespoons of mascarpone cheese and a knob of butter — if you’ve never done the mascarpone and mashed veggie thing, try it! Heaven. And for the greens, any greens you like; lambsquarters are my favorite.
The sauce is sweet-savory-spicy-hot-rich (did I mention there are four ounces of pureed, simmered homemade bacon in it?). The deer shank you can eat with just a fork — no knife needed. Silky-smooth and super flavorful.
Could you do this recipe with a lamb shank? You bet, although it will not be as flavorful because the animal was young. If that’s what you have, I suggest making my Greek venison shank recipe instead. This recipe works better with a hunk of beef shank, or the shank from a hog. Hunters, don’t hesitate to use this recipe on wild boar or elk shanks, too.
If you want to go another, lighter route, try my recipe for braised venison shank with garlic.
Braised Venison Shanks, Portuguese Style
Ingredients
- 4 small deer shanks, or 2 large ones
- 1 teaspoon black peppercorns, cracked
- 1 teaspoon allspice berries, cracked
- 1 teaspoon juniper berries, crushed
- 8 cloves
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 hot dried chile
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 ounces bacon, cut into chunks
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 yellow onions, minced
- 1 head garlic, cloves peeled and chopped
- 1 bottle red wine
- 2 cups beef stock or venison stock
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- Salt
Instructions
- Salt shanks and set aside. In a heavy pot with a lid (a Dutch oven will do), put spices and herbs in with the wine and molasses. If your bacon had the rind on it, put that in, too. Turn the heat to medium-low. Preheat the oven to 300°F.
- Pour olive oil into a second pan set over medium heat. Fry the bacon slowly, turning all sides to get crispy. As each piece crispifies, toss it into the pot with the wine. Do not let the wine pot go past a gentle simmer. When the bacon is done, brown the shanks on all sides except the one with the bone; this helps the shank stay together after long cooking. Take your time on this one, and do this over medium heat. It could take 20 minutes. Move the shanks to the wine pot, bone side sticking up.
- Put the onions in the frying pan and turn the heat up to high. Toss to combine. You will notice the onions will deglaze the pan. After about 3 minutes like this, add the garlic and toss to combine. Continue cooking until you hear the sound change: That’s onions losing enough moisture to begin browning. Cook another minute or two.
- Pour in the stock and mix it well with the onions. Bring to a furious boil and make sure you’ve scraped everything off the bottom of the pan. Add to the wine pot, mixing in with all the other ingredients. Make sure the shanks are still bone side up. Cover and cook in the oven for 3 to 4 hours. Venison, being wild, is difficult to gauge doneness — you might have shot an old deer, or a yearling. Each will require different cooking times.
- When the meat is almost falling off the bone, remove it gently and tent it with foil. Fish out the bay leaves, cinnamon stick and as many cloves, peppercorns, allspice and juniper berries as you can in a few minutes. It’s OK if you don’t get them all.
- Puree the sauce in a blender or pass it through a food mill set on a medium setting. It should be thick. Pour over the shanks and serve at once with mashed root veggies and something green.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
The Portugese venison shanks are superb. Thank you, Hank. I think it’s the cinnamon and the molasses.
Brigid: Yep, they mislabeled. Shank is the “calf” of an animal, not the top.
I’m looking at what is labeled a venison shank in my freezer and it looks like the TOP of the leg, not the calf. Did they mis-label it?
Made the recipe yesterday with a batch of Canada goose legs and did the slow cooking in the crock pot. Man, it was awesome. Made a convert of my buddy who was over for dinner–he’s typically a breast-out only goose hunter and now says he “pulling legs”!
We’ve been on a bit of a shank fest lately ourselves. Over the holidays I made lamb shanks with garam masala that were pretty delish and then this last week my hubby made some that were braised with red wine. He served them with a blue cheese infused barley pilaf and roasted fennel. So yummy!
We processed about 20 lbs of venison today for sausage and got so sick of the tedium of cutting all the connective tissue away from the shanks, so I told Charlie to stop and I’d make the shanks for dinner tonight. We made a sort of bastardized version of this based on what we had available. It was un-freaking believable. So delicious. I (and about 8 of my neighbors) were so happily stuffed on this wonderful recipe. It was perfect timing that you posted this! We benefited immesely. Thanks!
Hey hank
Really looking forward to your Nettle investigations.
my aunt and dad have both reported a vast improvement in the strength of their finger nails since they have been drinking a daily nettle tea.
SBW
Hank —
I can’t tell you how much I feel like for kickin’ myself for all those years, I let my buddy that I hunt the San Mateo County coast with keep throwing his deer shanks, and mine, to his deer hounds. Yes, they earned them, but this family’s dogs got enough from other great fresh scraps every Half Moon Bay area deer season for the last 180 years.
Once I modified a Greek recipe from Mykonos, on Polk in San Francisco (they use lamb shanks–great recipe I should post on my blog that includes vinegar, mint leaves, tomatoes and onions), I no longer put my venison shanks in the dog bowl.
BTW ShotShow was great–reconnected with a number of manufacturers (Beretta, Aya, Arietta [weird speaking Spanish Spanish and aspirating those Zs into Tha-thas, instead of S]) and built some great relationships with new companies: will you be healed in time to try these new Trulock Turkey chokes I have to field trial and review (Spring turkey opener’s end of March)?
Gotta take more time for ShotShow next year: but it really conflicts with Safari Club Int’l in Reno. Splits up writers too much.
Cheers,
Cork
Fantastic stuff. Like you I live for braising on cold days. Course, mine has never consisted of a venison shank!
Here here to shanks!
Did two Jamaican Curry Goat Shanks last night, came out amazingly. Goat is great but most parts need a braise, and shanks are top of that list.
Great post, Hank, and happy to get all welted up picking nettles for you.
I’ve tried mine, and they are a tad bland, too. Another nettle-nerd headed out with me last Saturday, and she put it in a lasagna, I believe. We’ll be making a duck egg-&-nettle quiche in a couple of days here.
Next batch, I’m trying something with the nettle tea.
Brady, I’m also very interested in that nettle book, and would love to know the title!
They are like rats here in VA. If you shoot’em small like I like to, you need to get some serious numbers if you want to put any meat away. Some guys like to talk about the points on the rack, I’d rather talk about the two young does I took in one evening, both with headshots. Now that was a sweet buthering job. I like to french out the racks and it’s a lot easier to do without a .300 WSM hole in the rib cage.
I’ll check on the book and get back with you.
Carolina Rig: Marrow is, as always, smooth and delicious. I only go a few bites of this one, because I did not feel like cracking the bones.
Kevin: Thanks for the kind words about the new site. As for wild game shank tenderness, all things come in time. Five hours is a long time, but maybe you need that for your Calgary moose…
J.R. Glad you like the estratto! Make more next year. I make a couple quarts and it is all gone by May,
Tovar: You’ll get your deer. Just be sure to scout well in summertime!
Stephanie: Alpaca shanks? Oooh, sporty! Any noticable difference in taste? Oh, and goat shanks will be closer to venison than lamb. Goats tend to be more athletic than baby sheep.
Brady: You shot EIGHT deer this year? Christ. And yes, pho is an excellent use of a shank — a few Vietnamese places here in Sacramento offer shank as an option in their pho. As for that nettle book, where can I find it? I am looking for all the info I can gather…
Too bad you posted this after deer season ended here in Virginia. I used all of mine (32) to make several batches of Pho’ this past year. I was sure it was the best use for a shank until now. I guess the verdict will be out till next bow season…
I am not sure about the nettles on the left side of the nation but here we have stinging nettles which are excellent in a pesto or cremed like spinach with nutmeg. I picked up a small book on the uses of nettles that covers everthing from rennett, to wine, to intimate marital aid (seriously) let me know if you’re in need.
Sounds really good. We are running low on venison as we did not get a deer this year. Time to get serious about steelheading I guess.
Would kill for venison shanks! Alas, all we have are lamb, goat and alpaca.
Wow, that sounds delicious!
“Hank’s Shanks”…or not, given your Achilles reference.
Congrats again to Holly on her first deer. And thanks for the recipe. I’ll keep it in mind if the gods of the hunt smile on me next fall.
For whatever reason I never really considered doing venison or elk shanks. I’ll be putting that on my list if I bag one or both this fall.
On a side note I braised a pig roast from a sow I shot this summer. I was light on fat despite adding some slab bacon, but once again your estratto came in handy. That stuff is awesome for braising, too bad I’m running low.
Holy smack – what an improvement! How slick! How polished!
I’ve had mixed success with braising game shanks. Probably just didn’t give them enough time. I now have a 5 hour minimum rule for anything that needs long and slow.
I was hoping you’d offer up your rendition of a shank braise. I’ve got a few matching sets ready for the treatment. Holly’s pic of the marrow looks inviting….any report on how that tasted???