Print Pin

Smoked Lamb Shanks in Guinness Gravy

This is one of my favorite dishes, perfect for St Patrick's Day, which also happens to be my birthday! Spring lamb shanks slathered in House of Q Slow Smoke Gold BBQ sauce and rubbed down with Meat Church Holy Cow rub, placed in a braising dish with a beef stock, onion, mushroom, carrot and Guinness braising liquid slowly cooked over charcoal and wood chunks to a tender deliciousness. It all comes together with a creamy potato mash, and roasted root vegetable medley all topped with a gravy made from the delicious braising liquid. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
Course Main Course
Cuisine bbq
Keyword bbq, Gravy, Guinness, Lamb, Mashed Potatoes, St Patrick's Day
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 6 hours
Servings 4 People

Equipment

  • Charcoal Grill, Smoker, BBQ, Oven your pick!
  • Deep Dish to Braise Lamb in. We used a cast iron pot. It just needs to be deep and safe to cook over heat with.

Ingredients

  • 4 pieces Lamb Shanks Frenched
  • 1/2 Cup Slow Smoked Gold BBQ Sauce By House of Q
  • 2 tbsp Guinness Beer
  • Liberal Sprinkle Holy Cow Rub by Meat Church

Braising Liquid

  • 1 Sliced Onion In rounds
  • 1 Sliced Carrot In rounds
  • 1 Cup Mushrooms Sliced
  • 2-3 Cups Beef Broth We like Better than Bullion But anything beef broth will work
  • 1 Cup Guinness Beer

Gravy

  • Braising liquid
  • 2 tbsp Corn Starch
  • 2 tbsp Cold Water

Instructions

Preparing Your Grill

  • We cooked our lamb on our Broil King Keg charcoal grill, however this recipe could be cooked on just about anything from a pellet grill to your oven. The key is consistency in temperature.
    We cooked this at about 350°F for 5-6 hours. You want to get your grill up to temp and steady at that temperature trying to avoid over shooting.

Prepping your Meat

  • First French your lamb shanks. You can do this by cutting around the skinny part of your shank where the bone comes out of the meat then using the back of your knife run it up and down the bone trying to remove as much meat and tissue from the top of the bone as possible it should look like a ball of meat at the end of the bone when you are done.
    Next mix Slow Smoked Gold BBQ sauce and Guinness together in a small dish, using a brush liberally coat lamb shanks. Save remainder yo baste meat periodically while it is cooking.
    Finally sprinkle meat with Holy Cow rub. These steps can be done in advance to increase penetration of flavor into meat!

Making the Braising Liquid

  • First place braising pan on the stove top over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp of oil to pan as well as onions, carrots and mushrooms. Cook on medium heat for 5-8 minutes until onions are translucent and mixture smells fragrant.
    Add beef broth and Guinness at this point and heat through.

Getting Everything on the Grill

  • Place your braising liquid on the grill and add lamb shanks to it. Close cooker and check on meat periodically making sure that braising liquid does not evaporate, add more beef stock if this happens, avoid letting pan run dry.
    Each time you check your meat you can rotate it in the braising liquid and brush with BBQ sauce and Guinness mixture, Cook until tender and almost fall off the bone, this takes 5-6 hours.

Making Your Gravy

  • Once meat is cooked remove from braising liquid to rest. Place braising pot on oven over medium heat. Make a slurry of your corn starch and cold water, slowly add to boiling liquid while stirring continually until desired gravy consistency is reached.

Bringing it All Together

  • Place mashed potatoes and roasted root vegetables on a plate top Potatoes with a lamb shank and pour your gravy over meat and potatoes and enjoy! Happy St Patrick's Day!