Braised Pork Shanks with Black Beans
Shanks from any animal are one of my favorite cuts. The shank is between the knee and ankle. Regardless of what animal you are using, shanks need to be braised for a long period of time in order to become tender. Other than the meat being extremely tender and flavorful, my favorite part of shanks is the bone marrow from inside the shin bone. Suck out that meat jelly goodness.This just so happens to be one of the easiest and least expensive recipes on stonedsoup.net. Pork shanks at my local Asian market cost $1.79lb; costing me $4 just for all of this meat. The can of black beans cost less than $1. I always have on hand in abundance all of the other ingredients. So this entire meal that is enough for 4 large servings cost around $6 to make. You can’t eat out a meal of this quality for at price.One pot meals by one pothead.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2-2 1/2 lbs pork shanks
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 tsp sichuan peppercorns
- 2 whole star anise
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 6 garlic cloves
- 3 green onion cut into 3rds
- 2” ginger cut in half
- 1/4 tsp five spice powder
- 4 cups water
- 4 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tsp dark soy sauce
- 2 tbsp palm sugar
- 1 can black beans plus all of the liquid
Instructions
- Place Sichuan peppercorns, coriander seeds, and star anise in the middle of a 6”x6” piece of cheese cloth.
- Fold it over like so.
- Tie it into a knot. This is also a great way to wrap up a bud if you don’t have baggies or a flour tortilla.
- Heat up cooking oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add in the pork shanks. Sear on both sides for 3-4 minutes.
- Pour in the water along with the garlic, ginger, green onion, cinnamon stick, five spice powder, and the cheese cloth spice sack. Bring to a boil. Cover. Reduce the heat to low. Simmer for 40 minutes.
- Add in th soy sauces and palm sugar. Cover. Turn heat up to medium high. Simmer for an hour.
- Add in a can of black beans with it’s liquid. Cover and continue to simmer on medium high heat for another hour.
- The liquid at this point should’ve reduced by more than half. If there is more liquid in the pot then that, uncover and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes.
