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I was perusing the offerings at my local Asian supermarket and some nice beef shanks caught my eye. I really enjoy long, low, slow braised osso buco for its tenderness and unctuous beefiness. It is the epitome of braising; and the perfect marriage of beef, white wine, and mirepoix.

While osso buco is normally made with veal shanks, I prefer the meatier beef shanks. I'm no animal terrorist who hates the thought of the "poor baby veals" being raised in captivity and slaughtered young. I have lived and worked on farms and helped make the useless bull calves into a plethora of meaty products. I just don't care for the taste of veal, I like bold flavors, not the restrained. (Unless it's sashimi, sushi, and some of the other delicate aspects of Japanese cuisine.)

Osso buco can be made with any type of shanks (legs/femur.) Beef and veal of course, but also lamb or mutton, venison, elk, bison; and I guess llama, camel, and any other animal that has nicely developed legs with meaty marrow inside the femur. I wonder if you could make it with ostrich, emu, or kangaroo?

It's mid-January and the winter blues have hit. I need some comfort food to make me feel that all is right in the world. Here's my recipe for osso buco on a cold, mid-winter day.



First I chopped the mirepoix of onions, celery, and carrots into 1/2 inch dice and reserved.



I washed and dried the gorgeous shanks. Look at all that marrow and connective tissue.



I browned the shanks. They look great already.



I placed the vegetables and shanks in a dutch oven pot with 1/4 of the liquid. Brought it to a boil, covered it and lowered to a simmer.



I reduced the liquids into a thick sauce and added half to the pot. See how thick, rich, and full of flavor the sauce already is? It tastes fantastic.


Here's the finished shanks on a platter. I took the gravy and reduced it a bit more with a few handfuls of fresh green beans laid on top to cook briefly.



Served on a bed of egg noodles, with green beans on the side. This is the best osso buco I have made in years. Mmmmmm...



The following recipe is derived from The Food Network and "New Italian Recipes" but quite a few of my own changes.


Ingredients:

• 2.5 lbs. / Two large beef, veal, lamb, or other shanks
• 1/4 cup of Bacon Grease or Olive Oil
• 1 small Onion in 1/2-inch dice
• 1 small Carrot in 1/2-inch dice
• 1 stalk Celery in 1/2 inch dice
• 4-5 grape or cherry Tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon Ketchup or Tomato Paste
• 1 small sprig fresh Rosemary leaves finely chopped
• 1 sprig fresh Thyme leaves finely chopped
• 1 small dry Bay Leaf
• 4 cloves Garlic finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp. Sea salt
• 1 tsp. freshly ground Black Pepper
• 1 cup Dry White Wine (If you like a hint of sweetness you can use semi-dry or sweet white wine. I used some leftover low quality semi-sweet Sauternes.)
• 3 cups Chicken, Beef, or Vegetable Stock
• 1/2 cup of Dark Rum
• 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour for dredging the shanks and for thickening
  

Gremolata:

• 3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest, finely minced
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Mix in a bowl and reserve to sprinkle over individual servings at the table.


Recipe

• Wash and pat dry the shanks with paper towels to remove all moisture so that the shanks will brown nicely.
• If you want you may secure the meat to the bone with kitchen twine, but I don't bother.
  
• Season each shank with salt and freshly ground pepper and dredge the shanks in flour, shaking off and reserving excess.
• In a large Dutch oven or pot with lid heat bacon grease / olive oil until smoking. Add shanks to the hot pan and brown all sides, about 3-5 minutes per side. Remove browned shanks and reserve.
• In the same pot, add the onion, carrot, celery, and the salt ( to help draw out the moisture from the vegetables.)
• Saute until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the reserved flour (it will help thicken the sauce later), spices, and tomato paste and mix well and brown for 2 minutes.
• Add the white wine bring to a boil and and reduce liquid by half, add the rum and reduce by half, then the chicken stock and reduce by half. Pour off 3/4 of the liquid sauce and reserve.
• Return browned shanks to the pan, add the tomatoes, and reduce heat to low, cover pan and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone. Check every 15 minutes, turning shanks and adding more of the reduced sauce as necessary. The level of cooking liquid should always be about 3/4 the way up the shank. Make sure you add all the sauce before it is finished cooking.
  
• Carefully remove the cooked shanks from the pot and place on a serving platter. Cut off the kitchen twine and discard.
• Pour all the juices and sauce from the pot over the shanks and serve.
• Garnish with the gremolata.

Serve with risotto, mashed potatoes, or pasta / noodles.