Korean Barbecue Osso Buco

Posted on May 16, 2012

…and once you’ve downed the buco, don’t forget to polish off the marrow for dessert.

Ingredients

tallow
4 beef shanks
2 c beef stock
2 T fresh ginger
1 T fresh garlic
1/4 c coconut sugar or brown sugar
1/4 c coconut aminos or gluten free soy sauce
1 t sesame oil
1/2 t fish sauce
juice of 1 lime
3 green onions
handful of cilantro

Method

Preheat your oven to 300ºF.

In a food processor, buzz up the ginger, garlic, sugar, coconut aminos, sesame oil, fish sauce, lime juice, green onions and cilantro until a paste has formed. Taste for flavor and add salt if necessary.

In a dutch oven or high sided saute pan (that you have a lid for), melt a few tablespoons of tallow over medium-high heat. Sear both sides of your beef shanks until nicely browned. Remove from the pan.

Stir in the beef stock, making sure to scrape up any browned bits, and about 3/4 of the Korean barbecue paste from the food processor. Add the beef shanks back into the pan.

Place the lid on the pan, very slightly ajar. Pop the shanks in the oven until they’re fall apart tender, about 2 1/2 hours. Periodically check the shanks, if too much liquid has evaporated, add a bit more.

Serve with the remaining Korean barbecue paste.

Megan Keatley

Co-author of the bestselling cookbook Primal Cravings. Co-owner of Base 10 CrossFit in Columbia, SC , and co-maker of Food Worth Eating.

12 Comments

Rachael

May 18, 2012 at 1:17 pm

Is the sugar necessary?

Reply
Jamie
May 19, 2012 at 6:06 pm
I used raw blue agave syrup instead but I think maple syrup would have been good also.
Reply
megan keatley
May 25, 2012 at 11:20 am
i think some type of sweetener is definitely necessary. it balances the flavors. otherwise, it will probably just taste salty and bitter.

Reply
Rachael
May 25, 2012 at 11:35 am
Drat! Looks good though.

Reply
Sapna
July 25, 2013 at 1:44 pm
Korean BBQ definitely has the savory sweet element to it. Yes, you need the sugar. Use maple, sucanat or coconut for low glycemic sweeteners.

Jamie

May 19, 2012 at 6:05 pm

This is effin amazing! I did it as a pot roast and I have it in the slow cooker as we speak! I have been snacking on it for the last few hours and I am making it for dinner with some roasted carrots, mushrooms and a salad. Thanks for the recipe and I will make this again for sure!

Dancingtigga

June 27, 2013 at 4:05 pm

Hi there – really fancied this recipe but a bit confused by the amount of meat – 4 beef shanks is about 16kg of meat – things have probably got lost in translation – I live in the UK and my butcher is usually able to figure out the difference in cuts but not this time – how much meat in weight do I need?

Reply
Health-Bent
June 27, 2013 at 4:49 pm
each shank is probably about 1/2 lb. 2 lbs total for the recipe. or ummmmmmmmm roughly 1 kg…right?

these are about 2-3″ thick sliced on the bias with bone in center as shown. you’re looking at 1 head on in the photo which has shrunk some from cooking. does sound like you guys call shanks something slightly different. maybe that is the entire shank not sliced on bias?

16 kg would be so much!!!!

Dancingtigga

June 27, 2013 at 5:11 pm

Thank you! Yes – I think that’s it – here, a shank is the whole thing whereas for you guys it’s cut across the leg. I find cuts of meat so confusing, usually the butcher translates from US to UK for me but he was floored by my request. (I’ve been eating meat for less than a year so my knowledge is embarassingly patchy). Thanks again!

Ps – I made the gingerbread muffins from your book, firstrecipei tried and they were fabulous!

Dancingtigga

July 2, 2013 at 3:40 pm

Finally managed to get the shanks from the butcher, made this tonight and was completely blown away. One of the best dishes I’ve ever had, no kidding! Thank you.