I am working my way through Tim Ferriss’ book, The 4-Hour Chef (“4HC"). However, I also have a family with two kids, which I am trying to raise in a way that will prepare them for when they are older. One thing that I believe that all human beings should learn, is how to cook. So why not combine the two together, I thought. If the idea is that anyone can do it, then why not have kids try to learn. Sunday was my first attempt at this, and with the braising recipes almost idiot proof, I gave it a go.

We made both (Osso “Buko" and Jude’s Chuck Roast) braises, since my older daughter does not like the smell of lamb. For this post, I will cover the Osso “Buko", which we prepared first. Given than the beef braise takes longer, if I were to do it again, I would have done the beef first.

Ingredients we used:

(See 4HC for full recipe and alternates)

4 lamb shanks

1 bunch carrots

1 can whole San Marzano tomatoes

3-finger pinch of garlic powder

2T Extra Virgin Olive Oil (“EVOO")

1/3 bottle of dry white wine

Salt and Pepper (“S+P") to taste

Step 00 - Defrost meat. Our meat was not frozen, so we didn’t have to defrost.

Step 01.1 - Wash the carrots

My older daughter is using a peeling sponge that we bought from Japan.

Step 01.2 - Practice holding your knife. Remember pinch the blade.

My younger daughter has a tendency to have her index finger along the top of the blade, like how you would hold a dinner knife, so we needed to practice holding a chef’s knife. The smaller blade is a “practice" blade from Japan. It’s a bit dull but still cuts. My eldest has cut herself a few time cutting with that blade when she was younger, so maybe leave 4HC with kids until at least age 8 or so.

Step 01.3 - Cut the ends off of the carrots and then snap them in half with your hands

It helps if you have nice crispy carrots so they actually snap.

Step 02 - Get your meez ready

From left to right: lamb shanks, canned whole tomatoes, garlic powder in the small glass bowl, white wine, EVOO, salt, pepper, carrots on the chopping board.

Step 00 - Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Place a PanSaver, if using, in the Dutch oven.

I couldn’t find PanSavers at the Safeway closest to home, but the roasting bags are essentially the same thing.

(hmm, I wonder how those carrots got in there first…)

Step 01 - Place the carrots in the pot to create a bed for the meat to rest on.

Step 02 - Add the 4 lamb shanks

Step 03 - Open the tomato can and crush the tomatoes.

For safety, we poured the can out before crushing.

The original recipe calls for squishing the tomatoes with one hand before dropping them into the Dutch oven. Unfortunately, I could only get San Marzano tomatoes canned in puree, so just dumped the crushed tomatoes along with the puree over the meat. Our final result had a lot more sauce than what Tim’s picture showed. Next time, I will have to try just pulling the tomatoes out of the can.

Step 04 - Sprinkle in the 3-finger pinch for garlic powder, although for the younger ones, it may be a 4-finger pinch.

Step 05 - Drizzle in about 2T of EVOO. Not sweating about precision, so it’s a good opportunity for kids to practice their guesstimating.

Step 06 - Add enough white wine to cover 1/2 to 3/4 of the meat. Don’t cover completely.

Step 07 - Add pepper and salt.

I don’t have a pepper grinder, so it's a few shakes from the jar.

The salt is also another time to practice the 3-finger pinch.

Step 08 - Cover the pot, put in oven, and come back 2 hours later.

Before being put in the oven.

Step 09 - Enjoy!

As you can see from the above, there is a lot of juice/sauce, which may be from the tomato puree in the jar. Next time, if I can use just tomatoes, I think that would be better.

My wife, who enjoys lamb, said that it could use a little bit more flavor, like having rosemary added to it. The recipe as it is written still ends up with a very game-y flavor which can turn off some people. So adding rosemary might help.