Osso Buco 101- the experiment

Source: Yummy Magazine June 2008 Issue

• 2 pounds veal shank, cut into short lengths
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup butter/ oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 1 stalk celery
• 2/3 cup dry red wine
• 3 cups beef stock
• 2 tbsp tomato paste

For Gremolata
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp grated lemon zest


1 Dust veal shanks lightly with flour. Melt teh butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
2 Add the veal and cook until browned on the outside then set aside.
3 in the same pan, saute garlic, onions and tomato paste, cook and stir until onions are translucent. Add in the celery, and return the veal to the pan then mix in the carrots and wine. Simmer for 10 minutes.
4 Pour in the beef stock and season with salt and pepper. Cover, and simmer over low heat for 1-1/2 hours. Cook until meat is tender, almost falling off the bone.
5 To make the gremolata, mix together the parsley, minced garlic and lemon zest in a bowl and serve on the side with the veal.


Ok here goes, I thought last week of experimenting on Osso Buco just to offer here something different- something not Pinoy-ish. Osso buco is an Italian dish made of beef shank. I was first introduced to it during our food tasting in Splendido, and I since then vowed to try this in the kitchen one day. Unfortunately, I don't even know what a beef shank is then (will someone please send me an Idiot's Guide to Cooking Ingredients) that I had to seek help from Google!

For the information of those unfortunate late-bloomer cooks like me, a beef shank according to Wikipedia is the leg portion of a steer or heifer. I even googled for an image of beef cuts and found this:

Really interesting. So there's where my favorite sirloins we're taken from... LOL


Back to my Osso Buco, since I only plan to experiment and I'm really having a hard time looking for beef shanks in supermarkets (available alternative is lamb shanks), I thought of using chuck tenders. FYI, it's not a recommended alternative, I just wanted to use something cheaper in case my experiment will come to waste. I wasn't sure if it will be as tastier as the shanks, but I still gave it a try.

It says to cook the meat for an hour and a half. While simmering I was surprised by how good it smells! It must be the wine, I'm not sure.

I searched online for Osso Buco recipes with embedded images and here's one:



Mine's not so pretty. I'm a no good food photographer, the picture I took didn't gave my osso buco justice.




Oh well, neither Dandy nor Darwin was around yesterday when I cooked this so no photographer available but me! Very unfortunate... LOL

My Verdict: No Darwin's verdict for this one because I cooked this for myself yesterday for lunch. And a little trivia about my husband-- he's not a big fan of any dish cooked with tomato sauce. My version of menudo which he by the way loves doesn't have a single drop of tomato sauce in it, just pure, raw tomato.

I think my Osso Buco is ok. Not as good as I expected though. It tasted more like Beef Caldereta without the cheese. Splendido's Osso Buco set up a very high standard that's why I'm completely unsatisfied with mine. The chuck tenders we're ok but I plan to use lamb shanks on my next try... maybe this Monday for dear Morisse. =)