Maximum slow cooker time for lamb shanks

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neilsolaris

Assistant Cook
Joined
Dec 29, 2019
Messages
4
Location
London
Hi,

I'm cooking lamb shanks for lunch tomorrow in the slow cooker, and I wondered what the maximum ideal cooking time is. The reason being, I'm planning to prepare it tonight before I sleep at 11ish, and have lunch ready for about 1pm.tomorrow, so that would be about 14 hours cooking time. Naturally I'd set the cooking temperature too low. It would be mostly submerged in red wine and stock.

Is anyone able to advise me if this is ok please?

Many thanks.
 
Hi and welcome to Discuss Cooking [emoji2]

There really is no ideal cooking time for large pieces of meat - there are a lot of variables that can alter it. I would braise it today at the normal temperature till it's done - this depends partly on how large the shank is - then cool it and refrigerate it overnight. Excess fat will harden and rise to the surface, so you can skim it off easily. Then reheat it for lunch.

Also, in order to avoid food poisoning, food has to be held at at least 140F. I'm not sure what you meant by "too low," but it's important to keep this in mind.
 
Many thanks for the advice. When I said "too low", I actually meant "to low" (autocorrect failure!). There are three settings on my slow cooker, low, medium and high, so I thought low would be the best setting in this instance. I'm not sure what temperature that will be, but I can check.

Thanks again.
 
Hi,

I'm cooking lamb shanks for lunch tomorrow in the slow cooker, and I wondered what the maximum ideal cooking time is. The reason being, I'm planning to prepare it tonight before I sleep at 11ish, and have lunch ready for about 1pm.tomorrow, so that would be about 14 hours cooking time. Naturally I'd set the cooking temperature too low. It would be mostly submerged in red wine and stock.

Is anyone able to advise me if this is ok please?

Many thanks.

Hi, welcome

I have quite a few recipes for cooking lamb in a slow cooker. The one for lamb shanks (about 4 lbs.) says; cover and cook on low-heat setting for 11 to 12 hours or on high-heat setting for 5 1/2 to 6 hours. Hope this helps.
 
Your welcome. Let's hope not. lol

DH and I have been using our slow cooker more these days. They sure do come in handy.

Please let us know how your lunch goes, ok?
 
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That's very helpful, thanks. I guess an extra two hours in the slow cooker won't hurt then.
Meat can be overcooked and become dry and tough, even when cooked in liquid. There has to be some intramuscular fat remaining in the meat for it to taste juicy. That's why I suggested cooking it till done, then reheating when it's time to serve.
 
Thanks GotGarlic, so maybe I'll start it late tonight, stop it in the morning, and reheat it like you suggested.
 
Welcome to the forum!

While reading your post, my first thought was along what CG said - cook it the day before, or even two days before. Especially with lamb, this will help solidify that fat, and remove it, and sometimes the flavoring veggies are best removed - whole onions, carrots, celery, etc. They've done their part in a really long cook, and maybe add some fresh, when reheating. Stews and braised meats are usually better the next day, anyway! And I almost always make some bread - usually a 2 day dough, so I have the mess cleaned up the day before! lol This leaves me much less to deal with on serving day - just some simple veggies and/or salad.

That seems like an awful long time to slow cook any meat. Even if left on a "smart" cooker with a timer, with puts it on a safe 160° hold after, say, 8 hours, that's not something I would try.
 
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