Beef Shank Products

The leg portion of a steer or heifer is known as the beef shank in the United States. In Britain, they use the words shin or foreshank and leg or hindshank to describe the same cuts. As the legs get used constantly, this muscle tends to be tough and dry when cooked like a traditional steak-cut of beef.

Beef shank costs very little, and because it's so tough, the beef shank gets used most often for making stock, stews, or used for Ossobuco, an Italian dish that braises the meat on the bone for fork-tenderness and the flavorful marrow within. The meat from the beef shank often gets used for ground beef.

Beef shanks mostly go by the same name in the U.S., whereas other countries delineate by fore or hind leg cuts. The whole beef shank comes from the upper portion of a cow's leg. You'll find beef shanks in grocery stores and butcher shops from time to time, but not always. They are readily available to retailers who sell beef, so you should have no problem ordering a shank if you need one for a recipe. There are two basic cuts available:

Your butcher or grocery store meat counter will package cuts with two dates clearly labeled. The first date represents the package date, and the second is a use-by or sell-by date. If the sell-by date has passed, don't purchase the meat.

As with any meat, the eye test serves you well. Beef should be red, hence the moniker red meat. When the meat begins to age, it turns from red to gray. It starts with small gray blotches after a few days exposed to air and light. These blotches don't always mean the meat has turned and is unfit for consumption, but they indicate how long the meat has been sitting on the shelf. You should cast a wary eye at gray meat and ask your butcher for a fresh cut rather than risk eating it.

If you're planning to roast the beef shank, you can purchase the whole primal cut. Some butchers will cut this 20-pound roast into portions as most families won't need such a large serving. The butcher will package the rest as crosscuts.

If you plan on stock, stew, or the classic Ossobuco dish, you want a cross-cut beef shank. Cross-cut beef shank will have plenty of meat that will pull away from the bone after stewing in a pot for several hours, leaving you with tender beef chunks and a flavorful broth.

When you've determined what type of beef shank you want, you can save time by finding beef shank on the Instacart app. Once you've added the beef shank to your cart and checked out, an Instacart shopper will shop for your items and have them ready for in-store pickup in as little as 2 hours! In some cases, your beef shank can be delivered to your home the same day!