Osso buco alla milanese

Ingredients

• Veal shin — cut across, 4 cm thick4
• Flour60 g
• Onion1
• Carrot1
• Celery2
• Dry white wine250 ml
• Meat stock500 ml
• Butter60 g
• Lemon zest1
• Garlic2 clove
• Parsley30 g
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Tie each piece round its circumference with kitchen string so the meat stays on the bone.

   10 min

2. 2

   Nick the membrane around the edge in two or three places, or the pieces curl as they brown.

   5 min

3. 3

   Dust with flour and brown them in butter on both sides, four minutes a side.

   12 min

4. 4

   Lift out the meat and soften the finely chopped onion, carrot and celery.

   12 min

5. 5

   Add the wine and reduce it by half, scraping up what has caught on the bottom.

   8 min

6. 6

   Return the meat, add stock to half the height of the pieces and braise covered for two hours on a low heat.

   125 min

7. 7

   Mix the chopped zest, garlic and parsley and scatter it over the osso buco before serving.

   8 min

About the dish

The name means "bone with a hole": the shin is cut across, marrow bone and all. The marrow renders into the sauce and gives it a body neither flour nor cream provides.

Each piece is tied round with string. Without it the meat pulls away from the bone during the braise and what reaches the plate is a stew, not osso buco.

Gremolata — chopped lemon zest with garlic and parsley — goes on raw at the very end. Its acidity cuts the richness, and without it the dish cloys by the third piece.

Worth knowing

• — There is no tomato in the Milanese version. A red version exists, but in Milan it goes by another name and is served differently.
• — It comes with saffron risotto alla milanese, and that is the only canonical accompaniment. Polenta is allowed; pasta is not.
• — The marrow is eaten with a small spoon. In Milan one is laid with the cutlery for that purpose, and it is part of the dish.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

620 kcal

Protein

48 g

Fat

32 g

Carbs

18 g

More from Italy

• Spaghetti carbonara — Pasta from four ingredients: guanciale, eggs, pecorino and pepper. There is no cream in it and never was.
• Risotto alla milanese — A saffron risotto built on stock and near-constant stirring, which is what pulls the starch out of the rice and makes it creamy.
• Pesto alla genovese — Basil ground with garlic and pine nuts. No heat and no blender — a mortar and a cool room.