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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.

Lobel's of New York is a family business, owned and operated by brothers Leon and Stanley Lobel, and their sons Evan, Mark, and David, where everyone is a certifiable expert in meat. It is not surprising, therefore, that they all know how to cook everything from veal to chicken and how to match it with wine. After all, once you've eaten a lot of meat, it has to be washed down with something, right? Lobel's Meat and Wine: Great Recipes for Cooking and Pairing is not necessarily about pairing a dish with the one wine that will go with it, but about learning how to match foods - meats, specifically - with wines.

The first chapter of the book explains what types of wines are food-friendly and what it is about them that makes them work. It then goes on to introduce recipes and matches for beef, pork, veal, chicken, game, pork and organ meats. The only complaint that a wine-lover could have about this crash course is that it focuses quite heavily on French and Italian wines, with only a sprinkling of those from other regions. Of course, this criticism is easily smoothed by the fact that the knowledge contained in the book will better enable you to match wines from California or New Zealand, as well as from Burgundy.

If you want to brush up on your meat knowledge before you read the book, take a look at the Guide to Meat that is on the Lobels' website.

Among the most popular items listed on Valentine’s Day menus are meats and seafood. The holiday lends itself meals that feature lamb, veal, steak and lobster, along with purported aphrodisiacs like oysters. But for vegetarians, the specials offered at many restaurants aren’t love inducing and a simple salad is not really the optimal main course for a romantic, special occasion.

If your Valentine is vegetarian, try to check the menu of the restaurant before you make a reservation or simply as the host or hostess if they offer vegetarian options when you call. Most restaurants either have options already or have no problem making sure that a substitute for a carnivorous main course is available. If they cannot or refuse to accommodate you, it is best to change your reservations, since an otherwise lovely evening can be marred by an unpleasant dinner.

After my gigantic endeavor with the gardiane, I was a little burned out on dishes that were high on process. Yet I was committed to those slow cooking ideals I've been talking so much about. And... I had some veal stew meat I'd purchased in my whirlwind through the Italian market.

I adapted a recipe for Neopolitan Lamb Stew from my favorite slow cookbook, and used up all the leftover chopped-and-diced ingredients. And what I made was eloquent, soul-stirring, epic. But all it was: veal stew meat braised in wine. I barely glanced at the recipe. But I'd developed a winning, all-purpose slow cooking formula.

Here it is: you take your meat, in chunks. You coat it in a little flour and salt, brown it in oil, and set aside. You add in a mirrepoix (diced carrots, onions, and celery) to the pan, plus garlic if you're into that. Saute until soft then deglaze with French red wine (about a cup). Dump it all into the pan, maybe with some broth or canned tomatoes, a little thyme or rosemary, and let it simmer for hours. Voilá! Bistro-style stew. And you can tell them it was just a little something you threw together. And you know what? It's kind of true.

One of the most popular comfort foods is meatloaf. But how do you put one together? Meat in a loaf pan? The Meatloaf Pages are here to help with possibly the largest, tested meatloaf recipe collection on the internet. The have recipes from Emeril's Most Kicked Up Meatloaf Ever to the posh Veal, Chicken and Wild Mushroom Loaf, which is fit for the finest restaurant table but simple enough to serve on a weeknight at home. Every recipe includes the observations and comments of their professional, experienced meatloaf chefs, as well as advice for improving the recipes.

And if you're looking for meatloaf inspiration, take a look at the Flickr meatloaf gallery, with photos of meatloaf, meatloaf sandwiches and the most popular meatloaf side dish: mashed potatoes. The photo above is one of my favorites, and a Flickr member's first attempt at homemade meatloaf.