Pig wings (Pork Shanks)

[walleyeking]

I would like to smoke some pork shanks this weekend. You see them at restaurants sometimes called Pig wings. Does anyone know where you can buy these fresh? Do local grocery stores carry them? Butcher Shops like VH?

[DonBo]

Maybe Piggly Wiggly?

Sorry, couldn't resist.

I have seen them already smoked at the grocery store, but never seen them fresh, but then I've never really looked.

[thirdeye]

Are the pig wings you are talking about sawed in half and braised? Or just smoked?

I do the whole ones for cooking in beans or stew, and they are in most stores. Hocks are more common.

[NEANGLER]

My company makes the pig wings and we used to do them fresh but the problem was customers didnt realize that they needed to be slow cooked for HOURS to make them tender like the ones we sell. So they would drop them in the fryer or in the smoker for a hour or 2 and complain that they were tough. I would braise them first for several hours and then finish them off in the smoker for a hour or 2 to get the flavor and the bark. Thats what several of our customers do with the ones that we sell Fully cooked. If you try and smoke them the entire time they are going to get dried out and tough. Most butchers shops arent going to be able to sell you what is being sold out there as a wing since we bone out a section of the shank to get the wing. You'll just be able to get the whole shanks, but if you do them right they are some of the best meat on the whole animal - kinda like the pig cheeks

[Juneau4]

My company makes the pig wings and we used to do them fresh but the problem was customers didnt realize that they needed to be slow cooked for HOURS to make them tender like the ones we sell. So they would drop them in the fryer or in the smoker for a hour or 2 and complain that they were tough. I would braise them first for several hours and then finish them off in the smoker for a hour or 2 to get the flavor and the bark. Thats what several of our customers do with the ones that we sell Fully cooked. If you try and smoke them the entire time they are going to get dried out and tough. Most butchers shops arent going to be able to sell you what is being sold out there as a wing since we bone out a section of the shank to get the wing. You'll just be able to get the whole shanks, but if you do them right they are some of the best meat on the whole animal - kinda like the pig cheeks

Yes loooong and slooow. Maybe I'm not the only one that likes them