Shank at 88 degrees: Tagine

Lower leg packed with collagen. Hours of moist heat turn it into the sticky, spoonable meat of osso-style braises. Cheap per kilo until restaurants rediscovered it; still one of the best value cuts on the animal. French-trimmed shanks with a clean bone handle look better and brown more evenly.

Liquid should come halfway up the shanks. Turn once so both sides glaze. Colour, sinew, where the fat sits, and thickness are what you check before you pay. Ask for the thickness that matches “Tagine.” Use 88 degrees and 88 when you cook. Salt after you know the job. Do not play with undercooked meat.

At the counter, read the use on Shank before the photograph. 88 degrees is the internal heat, “Tagine” is the dish, and 88 is the stage of the fire. Marbling alone does not split stew from grill. Buy for size match — two shanks of equal weight cook evenly in one pot. A cut’s grain comes from how much the muscle worked. Shank needs heat through to 88 degrees before “Tagine” makes sense. 88 is a stage of that heat, not a luxury score. The same cut becomes a stew, a grill, or a braise, so a steak minute does not cover a pot. Thick connective tissue wants time, not a hard sear alone. This is not medical advice.