Osso Bucco "in bianco"

 

I'm going to follow the advice of Marcella Hazan, perhaps the greatest authority on Italian cuisine, with this osso bucco recipe. This recipe is unlike the classic Milanese recipe as the veal shins are cooked without vegetables or indeed tomatoes, in other words in bianco. Furthermore it is not cooked in the oven, but cooked entirely on top of the stove on a low heat.

Ideally it is served with a wet polenta or perhaps mashed potatoes. It is simple to prepare but produces a wonderful rich, intense dish which has the veal and in particular the marrow as it's main flavour. 

Unlike most braised dishes, this does not improve with age and is best consumed within hours of cooking.

Ingredients

1.25 -1.5 kg veal shins, preferably cut into smaller pieces, a minimum of 8

75 g unsalted butter

olive oil

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 

a little flour

1 bottle decent dry white wine - good enough to drink, not just cooking wine!

juice of 1 lemon

2 sprigs of majoram

To cook this dish we need a wide and deep pan, sufficiently large to hold the pieces of veal shin in a single layer.

Start with seasoning the flour with some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Dip the veal pieces in the flour lightly and shake off any excess.

In the pan, heat the oil and butter until the butter starts frothing. Place the veal shin pieces (in batches if necessary) in the pan and fry on both sides until golden brown and slightly crusted. If browning in batches remove in turn. When the pieces are all browned nicely place all in the pan in a single layer and pour in about 200ml of wine. Allow the wine to reach boiling temperature and lower the heat right down. Importantly the liquid should simmer as gently as possible, barely trembling. Cover and allow to cook very gently for 30 minutes.

Now remove lid, and turn the meat over gently. Add another 200 ml of wine, the lemon juice and the 2 sprigs of marjoram. Cover and continue to braise very gently for another 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, check to see the liquid has not evaporated too much, if it has add a little more, but not too much as we are after a fairly thick, syrupy sauce at the end of cooking. Cook for a further 30 minutes, by which time the dish should be complete, the sauce syrupy and the meat tender enough to be cut with a fork.

Classically this dish is served with gremolada. Simply mix together 2 tablespoons of lemon zest with 1 clove of garlic, very finely chopped and 4 tbsp flat-leaf parsley,again very finely chopped, season with a touch of salt and black pepper and sprinkle over the osso bucco.

Enjoy this classic meal, rightfully considered one of the finest dishes in the world. As with most of the food I enjoy cooking and eating, the reward/effort ratio is very high, and non-cooks will remain in awe of your culinary skills !

Comments

[shayma]

marcella hazan is my guru. i adore her. i love how this is cooked on top of the oven. lovely blog.

[Lynne]

I love gremolata. I don't think we use it often enough...

[Foodiefranklin]

No cooking wine? You ever heard of these guys? www.academiewines.com. I'll bet their blend #2 would be nice in this. Great wines you can actually drink but also bring out flavors in your meal based on the wine's profile. I know in my experience, the flavors in wine can be pretty different especially when reduced - even among dry whites.

Thanks for the great post - can't wait to give this a try!

[Carmelita]

I've been checking recipes in Italian Paul, because I didn't think the classic Milan Ossobuco recipe has tomato or much by the way of vegetables in it. Have always thought "in bianco" was the classic way. Thought you'd appreciate my sharing what I found.

The authorative Alessandro Molinari Pradelli has just onion and white wine, besides floured veal shanks cooked in butter; his Gremolada is parsley, garlic and lemon zest. Which seems pretty classic to me. Guarneschelli Gotti, a gastronomic historian, writes that like olive oil, the tomato "was admitted into Milan cuisine only on very rare occasions, and then mainly in the form of concentrated tomato paste."

Recipes in Italian on the web largely follow Molinari Pradelli, with the occasional mention of "a carrot - optional" or "a very small tomato - not essential". The gremolada sometimes also has a salted anchovy, or else the salted anchovy replaces the lemon zest. Herbs rarely make an appearance but I came across one mention of sage and rosemary and one case of marjoram, which seems to me a very southern herb. A very small minority mention a can or 300g of tomatoes, while one recipe says very firmly "No tomatoes".

So yes, even in Italian there are recipes on the web which have celery and carrots and a can of tomatoes but after reading around, they are a minority and the exception not the rule.

It seems to me that Marcella's IS the classic traditional recipe, bar the marjoram.

Thanks as always for your excellent blog!

[Paul]

Thanks Carmelita for your research and comments, this is really interesting as I always considered tomatoes an integral part of the dish. Show's how little I really know - but that's the fascination of the web - sharing of knowledge and idea's - I really appreciate your contribution and kind comments!

[Sasa]

I've been thinking about making osso bucco...Now I'm inspired! Lovely clean style to the blog, I like it.

[Paul]

Thanks Sasa, your blog is v nice too!