Lamb Shanks with Guinness and Mustard

I have a taste for bitter flavors. If you don’t, you won’t like this. But it is very, very easy for how fancy it is. You don’t even need to chop anything if you don’t feel like it. The tradeoff is that it takes a long time. This is only a weeknight dinner if you get up pretty early, or eat pretty late.

INGREDIENTS:
NECESSARY:
The lamb shanks themselves--12-16 oz of lamb shank per person you wish to feed
Salt
Butter (Kerrygold, to go along with the Irish theme?)
About half a chopped onion (white, yellow, or shallots--but not red imo)  per serving. Feel free to use the pre chopped onions that come in little plastic containers in the fresh produce section of the grocery store
Half a cup of Guinness per serving
Half a cup of chicken stock per serving.
Dijon mustard--maybe two tbsp per serving.

DELIGHTFUL BUT UNNECESSARY: any combination of:
A little dash of nutmeg
A little dash of clove
A bay leaf
A sprig of thyme
A sprig of rosemary
A sprig of sage
A square of bittersweet chocolate
A big pinch of instant espresso.
Worcestershire sauce
Fish sauce
Soy sauce.
Don't make a big fuss about these. Whatever you happen to have around, or need to buy anyway.

EQUIPMENT:
A pan and a slow cooker, or no pan and an instant pot. A spatula, some spoons, measuring cup. You need a knife & cutting board 

TIME: including prep:
About eight hours if you're using the slow cooker--maybe two if you're using the instant pot

Rub the lamb shanks with salt. Brown them in butter in a hot pan, if you’re planning on using a slow cooker; if you’re using the instant pot, use its sautee function. Lamb shanks are a weird shape, and will not brown evenly all over. This is fine. Remove the lamb shanks from the pan and set in the bottom of a slow cooker—or from the instant pot, and set aside on a plate.

Without washing the pan/instant pot, add a little more butter. When it melts, add the onions and a pinch of salt, and fry the chopped onions until brownish. If the pan seems like it’s scorching at all, add a slug of guinness to prevent burning.

When the onions are noticeably brownish and don’t smell raw, turn off the heat and add the rest of the guiness. Stir in mustard.

If using, add ground nutmeg and clove very carefully--shake a little out into your hand and then add it to the sauce from there, so you don’t overdo it. If using, add a dash of worcestershire sauce, fish sauce, and/or soy sauce--seriously, use all three. Add the instant espresso if using. Taste for salt. If you’ve made stuff like this a few times, you’ll be able to fix it by taste; if you aren’t sure, err on the side of undersalting. Pour the sauce over the lamb shanks in the slow cooker. Add the herbs & the square of bittersweet chocolate if using.

If using a slow cooker, cook on low for at least seven hours. If using the instant pot, set it for an hour on high. It will take some extra time to pressurize and depressurize.

If you’re using a slow cooker, you will probably go to work and come back. A nice thing about cooking the shank in the morning is that now you can make mashed potatoes from scratch without having to fuss over the meat at the same time--or, better yet, you can take the Irish theme even further & make colcannon. Or can you? Did work take longer than expected and you’re exhausted? Pick up some premade mashed potatoes (or scalloped, or gratin, etc) on the way home, microwave, and serve your shank over that. The instant pot version also gives you a solid hour to put some sides together.

Enjoy!