Italian Braised Pork Shank | Stinco di Maiale
Stinco di maiale is a whole pork shank cooked until it surrenders, and one of the few Italian main courses that arrives at the table still attached to its bone, in one piece, still needing to be taken apart in front of the people who will eat it. In the mountain provinces it comes to the board dark and glossy, and somebody levers the meat off with a fork while everybody else waits.
The cooking is a braise that ends as a roast. The shank is salted a day ahead, browned hard all over, then set in a covered pot with soffritto, herbs and a little white wine and stock, never enough to submerge it. Three hours later the lid comes off, the oven goes up, and the last half hour lacquers the outside while the inside stays saturated with gelatin.
Yield: 4 servings from 2 shanks. Prep: 30 minutes. Salting: 12 to 24 hours. Braise: 3 hours. Uncovered finish: 30 minutes. Rest: 20 minutes. Difficulty: intermediate. Course: secondo. Region: Trentino Alto Adige, Friuli Venezia Giulia and the Alpine north.
The Story
The pork shank belongs to the north, to the arc of provinces where Italian cooking runs into Austrian and Bavarian cooking and stops pretending the border matters. Trentino and Alto Adige cook it in white wine and sometimes in beer, and call it stinco or Schweinshaxe depending on the valley. Friuli sets it beside cabbage and horseradish, Veneto and Lombardy put polenta underneath. Further south it all but vanishes: the covered braise of a whole leg joint is cold weather cooking, and the southern pig went into salumi.
Behind that geography is the household pig. For centuries a family in the Alpine valleys raised one or two animals a year, killed in late autumn when the cold arrived. The prime cuts were cured to last the winter: prosciutto, speck, pancetta, sausage. What could not be cured had to be eaten within days, and that is where the shanks went. All bone and tendon and hard working muscle, worth nothing as salumi and unpleasant cooked fast, they went into the oven on the day of the slaughter.
That origin is also why the shank is festival food. The sagra circuit and the autumn Kirchtag celebrations serve stinco by the hundred, because one shank feeds two people and looks generous in a way sliced meat never does. The beer tent versions put beer in the pot and come with sauerkraut; the osteria versions use white wine, rosemary and sage, and come with polenta.
Ingredients
For the pork
Whole pork hind shanks, bone in, 2, about 2 lb (900 g) each
Coarse sea salt, 2 tsp (12 g), for salting a day ahead
Fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp (3 g), for the pot
Freshly ground black pepper, 1 tsp (2 g)
Extra virgin olive oil, 3 tbsp (45 ml)
For the aromatic base
Yellow onion, medium, 1, in large dice
Carrot, medium, 1, in large dice
Celery stalk, 1, in large dice
Garlic cloves, unpeeled and crushed, 4
Unsmoked pancetta, cubed, 2 oz (55 g)
Rosemary sprigs, 2
Sage leaves, 8
Bay leaves, 2
Juniper berries, crushed, 8
Black peppercorns, 10
For the braising liquid
Dry white wine, 1 1/2 cups (360 ml)
Light pork or chicken stock, unsalted, 2 cups (480 ml)
Tomato paste, 1 tbsp (16 g)
For finishing
Cold unsalted butter, 1 1/2 tbsp (21 g)
White wine vinegar, 1 tsp (5 ml), only if the jus needs lifting
Honey, 1/2 tsp (3 g), only if the jus is sharp
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the beer version, replace the wine with 1 1/2 cups (360 ml) of Vienna lager or Märzen and leave out the tomato paste.
Preparation
Step 1
Choose the shanks and salt them a day ahead. Hind shanks carry more meat over the bone than front ones; look for about 2 lb (900 g) each, the bone sawn clean at the knuckle. On the rind, decide once: score it in a close diamond through the skin but not the meat, for a lacquered chewy surface, or take it off and leave the fat intact. Then rub coarse salt and pepper over the whole surface, set the shanks on a rack over a tray and refrigerate uncovered 12 to 24 hours. The salt needs the full day to travel into a joint this dense, and the drying surface browns as a damp one never will.
Step 2
Brown them on every side. Heat the oil in a heavy Dutch oven just large enough for both shanks over medium high heat. A shank has no flat side, so you will turn it eight or nine times with tongs, propping it against the pot wall. It takes 12 to 15 minutes to darken evenly.
Step 3
Build the base and reduce the wine. Lift the shanks out. Over medium heat cook the pancetta 2 minutes, then the onion, carrot, celery and garlic 8 to 10 minutes until soft, then the tomato paste 2 minutes until it darkens to brick. Pour in the wine and boil hard 4 to 5 minutes, scraping the base, until reduced by half.
Step 4
Set the shanks in with liquid to one third. Return them standing apart, cut bone end upward so the marrow stays where the meat is, and add the herbs, juniper and peppercorns. Pour in stock until it comes one third of the way up and no higher, about 2 cups (480 ml), and add the fine salt. The lower third simmers, the rest cooks in trapped steam.
Step 5
Braise covered, turning every 45 minutes. Cover tightly and cook at 300°F (150°C) for 3 hours, the liquid trembling rather than bubbling. Because only the bottom third is submerged, rotate each shank a third of a turn every 45 minutes, basting the exposed surface, or one side finishes flabby and the other dry.
Step 6
Test at the bone, then finish uncovered. From 2 hours 30 minutes, slide a thin skewer into the thickest meat alongside the bone, the last place to give way. It should enter with almost no resistance, usually between 195°F (90°C) and 203°F (95°C). Lift the shanks whole onto a roasting tray, strain the liquid, and roast uncovered at 425°F (220°C) for 25 to 30 minutes, basting often.
Step 7
Reduce the jus, rest and carve at the table. Let the strained liquid settle, spoon off the fat, then reduce over medium heat to about 3/4 cup (180 ml), until it coats a spoon. It thickens without flour, because the braise is full of dissolved gelatin. Correct with vinegar if flat or honey if sharp, whisk in the cold butter off the heat, then rest 20 minutes and carve at the table.
Plating
This dish is served twice: once whole on a board for the table to look at, then on plates once it has been carved. Do not skip the first part for the sake of tidiness. Set the shanks on a warm board with the bones angled outward, brush them with jus and carry them out with a knife and fork.
Plate onto warm plates, not hot ones, because the mounted butter jus breaks on a plate out of a warming drawer. Lay two or three sections of meat slightly overlapping, glazed surface facing up.
Underneath goes soft polenta as in Trentino, potatoes roasted in the shank fat as in Alto Adige, or braised Savoy cabbage as in Friuli. Choose one, not all three. Spoon the jus over the meat and put the rest in a jug. No herb garnish, nothing green on top. The bone on the board has already done the decorating.
Professional Technique
The fact that governs this recipe is that the shank cooks around a bone, and that bone does two jobs at once. The first is thermal. A pork femur end is dense mineral matter with marrow down the middle, and it conducts heat inward far more readily than the surrounding muscle, thick as that is with water and fat. Heat therefore does not travel only from the outside in, as in a boneless rolled joint: it also runs down the shaft and radiates outward from the centre, so the meat against the bone cooks from both directions. That is also why doneness is tested at the bone, the region thickest in tendon and sheath and the last to yield. A skewer elsewhere reads done twenty minutes early.
The second job is structural, and it is why a shank can be served whole when a shoulder or a cheek cannot. The muscles of the lower hind leg are wrapped in thick sheets of connective tissue anchored onto the bone at both ends. As the collagen hydrolyses it softens and floods the meat with gelatin, but it does not let go: the muscle groups stay tethered even once they are tender enough to eat with a spoon. Bone the shank out first and you get a bag of shredded meat, impossible to present.
The marrow is the third element and the one most cooks never consider. Over three hours at 300°F (150°C) it renders almost completely, and because the knuckle has been sawn open it seeps into the braising liquid, where its fat and dissolved protein are much of why a shank jus has more body than one from boneless pork. Hence two habits: stand the shanks cut bone end upward so the marrow does not run out early, and skim before reducing, because that fat turns the jus greasy. When you carve, scoop out what marrow is left and spread it on bread.
Texture and Moisture Control
A shank has to arrive with two textures that fight each other: an exterior dry, tight and glazed, and an interior loaded with moisture and gelatin. The covered braise produces the second and destroys the first, which is why the method ends with a hot uncovered half hour rather than simply going on longer. Under the lid, steam condenses and runs back over the joint, so the surface stays wet for three hours and cannot brown. Uncovered at 425°F (220°C), the first ten minutes only evaporate that moisture.
Inside, the moisture is not free water but gelatin holding water, and that dictates the braising temperature. Muscle fibres contract and expel liquid steadily above about 160°F (70°C), so a boiling pot loses water fast, while collagen needs hours in the 160°F to 185°F (70°C to 85°C) range to convert. A gentle braise wins that race, gelatin accumulating faster than water is lost. A hard braise loses it, and you get the shank that is falling apart and dry at once.
The rest matters for the same reason. Straight out of a hot oven the gelatin is fully liquid and the joint slumps into shreds under a knife. Twenty minutes on a warm board lets it set just enough to hold together. Do not press foil tight to the surface, which traps steam and softens the glaze.
Professional Mise en Place
This dish has a long unattended middle and two short intense windows. The braise can happen the day before; the finish cannot.
Equipment and tools
Heavy cast iron Dutch oven with a tight lid, large enough for two shanks standing apart
Rack and tray for the salting, roasting tray for the finish
Fine mesh sieve, fat separator or ladle for skimming
Heavy tongs, a thin metal skewer, an instant read thermometer
Wide saucepan for the jus, a warm carving board, knife and fork
Prepared ahead
Shanks salted and refrigerated uncovered, 12 to 24 hours ahead
Vegetables diced, pancetta cubed, herbs and spices together
The whole covered braise, 2 days ahead, cooled in its liquid
Jus strained, skimmed and reduced, 2 days ahead
Polenta, potatoes or cabbage ready to reheat
Service setup
Shanks at room temperature 1 hour before the uncovered finish
Oven holding at 425°F (220°C), basting spoon beside it
Jus warm but below a simmer, cold butter cubed
Plates warm, not hot, and the carving board warm
A jug for the extra jus, a small knife for the marrow
Chef Tips
Order hind shanks and ask for the knuckle sawn rather than chopped. A clean saw cut leaves the marrow channel open but tidy and gives a joint that stands upright in the pot; a cleaver leaves splinters and a bone end that will not sit straight.
Braise the day before and finish on the day. Shanks are better for a night in the refrigerator in their own liquid: the meat reabsorbs juices and the fat sets in a disc that lifts off whole. Bring them to room temperature for an hour first.
Never add flour or cornstarch to the jus. A shank braise yields more dissolved gelatin than almost any other cut and thickens by reduction alone into a glossy body starch cannot imitate. If it still seems thin at 3/4 cup (180 ml), reduce further, tasting as you go because the salt concentrates too.
Save the bones. They still carry tendon, cartilage and whatever marrow escaped the table, and an hour of simmering turns them into a little intensely gelatinous stock.
Common Mistakes
Covering the shank with liquid. A shank submerged to the top is boiled, and boiled pork has a washed out flavour and a loose grainy texture no jus can rescue. The liquid comes one third of the way up and no further. If the pot looks dry, add a splash of stock.
Never turning the joint. Because only a third of the shank sits in liquid, an unturned shank finishes soft on one side and dry and pale on the other. Rotate a third of a turn every 45 minutes.
Testing the meat away from the bone. The outer muscle goes tender well before the tendon sheath against the bone does, so a skewer there reads done while the shank is twenty minutes short. Test alongside the bone in the thickest section.
Boning the shank in the kitchen. The bone holds the muscle groups together, and without it the meat has nothing to keep its shape. Carve at the table, or the reason for choosing this cut over a shoulder is gone.
Wine Pairing
Collio Friulano DOC: The most complete white here and the bottle I open first. Friulano from the Collio hills has real weight and a faintly waxy texture that stands up to a joint of pork, and its firm acidity cuts through rendered fat and buttered jus. Its bitter almond finish picks up the caramelised surface.
Ribolla Gialla Collio DOC: A sharper, more mineral alternative for anyone who finds Friulano too soft against the marrow. High acidity, a citrus and herbal register and a lean saline finish scrape the palate clean after the glazed rind. Serve at 54°F (12°C), no colder, or it loses the body it needs.
Teroldego Rotaliano DOC: The Trentino red for this dish, from the gravel plain an hour from where the shank is a Sunday staple. Dark berry fruit, firm acidity and tannin that is fine grained rather than gripping, which is what pork wants: a heavily tannic red finds little to bind to here and turns bitter.
Alto Adige DOC Lagrein: The choice when beer is in the pot and the jus is darker and more bitter. Lagrein is deeply coloured, with pronounced acidity, earthy fruit and a faintly bitter finish of its own, so instead of fighting the malt of a beer braise it runs alongside it. Structure enough for the jus without the weight of a big southern red.
Alto Adige Santa Maddalena DOC: The lightest red here and the answer when the shank comes with sauerkraut, where a heavier bottle collides with the vinegar. Mostly Schiava from above Bolzano: pale, low in tannin, gently almond scented, acidic enough for both the fat and the cabbage.
Storage & Reheating
This dish improves overnight, and the best way to store it is to stop before the uncovered finish. Cool the shanks in their strained liquid, cover and refrigerate up to 3 days: the meat reabsorbs juices and the fat sets in a disc that lifts off cleanly. Glazed leftovers keep 3 days too, but hold the meat and the jus in separate airtight containers, because meat sitting in jus goes soft.
To reheat a whole braised shank, bring it to room temperature for an hour, set it in a covered dish with a few spoonfuls of liquid, warm it at 300°F (150°C) for about 40 minutes, then go into the uncovered finish. Warm carved leftovers in a covered pan with a little jus over low heat. Never microwave this meat. Reheat the jus separately and remount it with fresh cold butter.
The braised shank freezes well in its liquid for up to 3 months, wrapped tightly, and should thaw in the refrigerator over 24 hours. Do not freeze the mounted jus, which separates irreversibly: freeze it unmounted and whisk the butter in once warm. The bones are worth freezing for the next pot of stock.
Nutrition
Per serving, based on 4 servings from 2 shanks, with the jus but without polenta or potatoes:
Calories: 690 kcal
Total Fat: 44 g
Saturated Fat: 16 g
Trans Fat: 0.3 g
Unsaturated Fat: 26 g
Cholesterol: 205 mg
Sodium: 780 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 7 g
Fiber: 1 g
Total Sugars: 3 g
Added Sugars: 0.5 g
Protein: 63 g
Lactose: 0.1 g
Principal micronutrients: thiamine, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, zinc, selenium, phosphorus, iron
These figures are estimates. The fat in particular swings widely depending on whether the rind is eaten and how thoroughly the liquid is skimmed before reduction.
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