Recipe: Venison Shank Garbanzo Stew

SERVES: 4 | PREP TIME: 30 MIN | COOK TIME: 2 HOURS

Living in Spain, you’ll regularly encounter garbanzo stews called puchero. These are really simple to make, and one of my favorites had garbanzos with a chunk of cured pork fat in the middle of the dish (for spreading on a baguette). That got me thinking about how it might translate well to venison shank garbanzo stew. With a bit of pork fat in stews to create a rich sauce, this recipe, venison shank garbanzo stew, was born.

Interestingly, this isn’t a complicated dish. A lot of southern Spanish recipes are really just a few ingredients. It’s a humbler cuisine, so they depend much more on technique than complexity to make things tasty. For example, this is not unlike southern cooking in the states with slow-cooked BBQ.

This recipe requires browned meat, onion or leek, stock, garbanzos, potatoes, and a thick chunk of bacon or tocino fatback in the middle. Spaniards take that soft fat and spread it on bread. At most, one bay leaf is all you need for herbs. However, if you want to toss in some fresh rosemary or white pepper, it wouldn’t ruin anything.

As for the process, slightly cut into the potato and then crack off a chunk. If the potato breaks rather than being cut, it releases extra starch, which thickens the stew even more. Add the potato at the end when the meat is just starting to get nice and tender. This way, the starch doesn’t increase the risk of a burnt stew, and the potatoes don’t melt down.

If using canned beans, add them with the potato. Or, if using fresh beans, soak overnight, and add them with the meat so they have time to cook properly.

If you’re someone who has tried making bone-in chunks of shank, but need something besides ossobuco, this is right up your alley. It’s a European country dish that you can adapt to your taste very easily. With the stock addition, a little wine, cognac, sake, or tequila are good options. Maybe skip anything with strong barrel flavors, though. This is a stew, and sometimes that can intensify over time.

This kind of slow-cooked meal is absolutely ideal to bring to deer camp. Once cooked, it’ll reheat like a champ, but make sure you get a well-sealed container for the cooler. I like the square shaped ones you find from restaurant supply stores. They stack nicely and seal extremely well.

INREDIENTS

• 2 lbs. venison shank
• 1-2 cups diced onion or leek
• 3 large potatoes
• 2 cans garbanzo beans
• 4-6 cups stock
• ½ cup alcohol (optional)
• Chunk of bacon or fatback, 2 in. square (more isn’t bad but don’t overpower the venison)
• 1 sprig rosemary
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

DETAILED STEPS

1. Prep your ingredients (dice onions, thaw meat and pat dry, drain garbanzos, peel potatoes, etc.). 
2. Heat a stew pan to medium-high with a nice coating of olive oil.
3. Salt the shank after patting dry and brown in oil.
4. Remove shank, add diced onion to pan, and cook until clear.
5. Add in a cup of alcohol or stock to the pan once onions are cooked to deglaze the pan (one cup first to melt the browned bits).
6. Add in all the other ingredients but the potatoes and garbanzos.
7. Cover and simmer for 1 hour or until meat is tender.
8. Add potatoes in chunks and finish cooking until the potatoes are tender.
9. Serve with some crusty bread (if you’re extra hungry).

Recipe: Smoked Venison Bottom Round Steak

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