Polenta e brasato

Paolo

With scorching summer heat today I was crazy enough to do "polenta e brasato" as I came across a nice and cheap piece of what I believe is a foreshank cut or something (experts?):

A bottle of Cannonau, a strong red wine from Sardinia, was available for the braising phase.
The idea was inspired by the beautiful braised ribs recipe by @Stormbringer.
First step, a good rub on the meat and prepared the braising base with wine (full bottle), EVO, vegetable broth, and finely chopped carrots, celery and shallots:

Then 2 1/2 hours indirect at 225 F until a good bark developed. Still not using smoking chunks, will take the time to learn about that later on.
Forgot to take pictures of this.
Final step, 3 hours braising covered with foil at 280 F. This is how it came out:
Finally I reduced the wine sauce for 20 mins adding cornstarch to make it thicker and this is the result, served with polenta and "taccole":

So this was my dinner tonight in the middle of a heatwave and it was great!

buzd504

Whoa

Canugghead

Newbie, my foot.

johnmitchell

Spectacular!!!!!😋😋

lousubcap

As mentioned in a prior thread, rolling in hot and definitely has this rig sorted out.  Masterful cook.  

shtgunal3

Bravo!

alaskanassasin

Damnit boy!

Campbell2N

You win.

Paolo

Canugghead said:

Newbie, my foot.

Hey, playing in my field here, this is no ribs or brisket, this is an italian classic! Done it in an electric hoven, in gas hoven, in a pot on induction, even in a steam cooker...but never could I imagine doing brasato on a bbq! So, yes, no newbie here to braising or cooking in general

ColbyLang

Outstanding looking meal

Gulfcoastguy

How about a fish next?

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Wow! another winner. That looks like a shoulder cut to me but hard to tell with it all trimmed up. 

buzd504

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Wow! another winner. That looks like a shoulder cut to me but hard to tell with it all trimmed up. 

Me too, but would a shoulder not be a foreshank?  Granted I don't know my Euro to US meat conversions.

GrateEggspectations

When I grow up, I want to be @Paolo.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

buzd504 said:

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Wow! another winner. That looks like a shoulder cut to me but hard to tell with it all trimmed up. 

Me too, but would a shoulder not be a foreshank?  Granted I don't know my Euro to US meat conversions.

No. 

Paolo

The Cen-Tex Smoker said:

Wow! another winner. That looks like a shoulder cut to me but hard to tell with it all trimmed up. 

Shoulder is the most common cut we use for brasato, we call it "cappello del prete", literally "priest's hat" (Italy..). And this is what it looked like to me but the tag was confusing

danhoo

Looks delicious 

Stormbringer

That looks fabulous, nice one. Nice adaptation too, what rub did you use? I'll try this.

Paolo

Gulfcoastguy said:

How about a fish next?

Will try for shure. Wife and doughter are on vacation right now so the current policy here with my son doesn't allow fish or anything healthy!

Paolo

Stormbringer said:

That looks fabulous, nice one. Nice adaptation too, what rub did you use? I'll try this.

This (salt, sugar, paprika, rosemary, etc.):

Your recipe inspired me the idea to try braising. 
I was quite worried about the sauce boiling over and having the ceramic smell of wine forever, but it seems that 280-300 F is safe in this regard.
Also it was delicious but I think it needed more time for a complete breakup/melting of the collagen. It usually gets a tad softer when I do it in a pot.
Not shure if the way to go would be more smoking time or more brasing time.

Paolo

GrateEggspectations said:

When I grow up, I want to be @Paolo.

Well, thanks, this is too much! Mind what you wish for 

Stormbringer

Paolo said:

Stormbringer said:

That looks fabulous, nice one. Nice adaptation too, what rub did you use? I'll try this.

This (salt, sugar, paprika, rosemary, etc.):

Your recipe inspired me the idea to try braising. 
I was quite worried about the sauce boiling over and having the ceramic smell of wine forever, but it seems that 280-300 F is safe in this regard.
Also it was delicious but I think it needed more time for a complete breakup/melting of the collagen. It usually gets a tad softer when I do it in a pot.
Not shure if the way to go would be more smoking time or more brasing time.

Thanks! It's an interesting question about smoking vs braising to break down the collagen. This is just a guess, but I think that it breaks down by experiencing heat so it may not matter so much whether it's being smoked or braised. The question is then do you want more smoke flavour ... if so maybe smoking is better. On the other hand, it could dry out the meat, whereas longer in the braise could mitigate the meat drying out whilst still rendering out the collagen.

Foghorn

Oh my.  Great cook and pics.