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Yeesh. We make salmon cakes (cheaper than crab cakes so better when the kids are home), but I can't imagine the hell of pre-baked fish in them. That would be disgusting.

CD, please never post that cookbook again.

So... How would you make something like this?



It's from Brooke Williamson's restaurant. We went there for my wife and her friends as a combined b-day as 3 of them have Dec birthdays. One of her friends ordered the pork shank and I'm challenging myself to try to replicate it.

I can't find a copycat recipe online. I'm finding recipes for glazed (braised) pork shank, and recipes for molasses/mustard glazes on pork, and thinking I'm going to try to combine the two and see what I come up with...

This is what it looks like if that helps...

• The butcher had frozen pork shank, already wrapped. He said it was two shanks. It was one giant (3.5#) shank. So I was already in a position where I felt I would have to cook it whole and shred it to portion it for my wife and I. 
• It was skin-on shank. I ended up braising it with the skin on, but could tell it wasn't what I wanted so before the final step of cooking (which was itself an audible) I ended up pulling the skin off after it had softened.
• I made the recipe based on a braised pork shank recipe and a molasses-mustard glazed beef short rib recipe. The glaze in the short rib recipe was molasses, red wine vinegar, and mustard. The vinegar thinned it out WAY too much such that it wasn't a glaze. While braising, instead of pouring it over at the start (which was the short rib prep) I ended up trying to add the glaze every time I flipped the shank. But it wasn't adhering at ALL, so it wasn't exactly glazing. 
• The shank being as big as it was, with both a large and a small bone in it, basically started coming apart during cooking. The larger bone was falling out before it was fully tender. This was okay since I already knew the meat would be shredded, but it sure didn't end up looking like the picture before I shredded it. I'll probably have to get the correct smaller shank that I wanted, and will likely need butcher's twine for the cook so it all holds together nicely. 
• With all of the above issues, I ended up mixing up a second glaze that was only molasses and mustard. I took the shank out about 30 minutes before the sides were ready, put it in its own pan, upped the temp of the oven to 450 to roast, and glazed it (twice actually) with the thicker glaze. This worked but 450 was probably too hot as that's hot enough to start burning the molasses a little. 

• First, get the right size shanks and with the skin already removed. Depending how it looks, use butcher twine to ensure it stays together. 
• Make it a two-step cooking process from the start. Potentially this would be a good application for sous vide for the first step, otherwise still do a braise but with the understanding that the glaze won't take in the braise. If sous vide potentially add the molasses-mustard in the sous vide step for flavoring, but it likely won't adhere there either due to the moisture that will come out of the meat into the bag.
• Still finish it with a glaze/roast step, but at <350 degrees, to set the glaze but not burn it. 

I thought you might suggest Dr. Pepper for the glaze