Osso Motherfucking Bucco (UPDATED WITH RECIPE)

UPDATE: Here’s the motherfucking recipe:

three 2 inch thick osso bucos (veal shank)
salt
pepper
olive oil
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced onions
1 cup diced celery
6 cloves finely chopped garlic
1 cup chicken or beef broth
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup unpasteurized sake
1 16 ounce can of Muir Glen chopped tomatoes
some aromatic fresh herbs, like sage, thyme, oregano, etc

(1) Salt and pepper the shanks and brown them in oilve oil over medium-high flame in a La Creuset dutch oven. The temperature should be modulated so that the residue left in the pan becomes brown, but not black. Remove shanks from dutch oven and put on plate.

(2) Throw celery, carrots, and onions into the dutch oven, and sautee over medium-high heat until they are starting to caramelize. Then throw in the garlic and continue to sautee until the you can smell that the garlic is cooking, but do *not* brown the garlic.

(3) Turn the heat to maximum, add the wine and sake, and deglaze the pan. The add the broth, tomatoes, and aromatics, allow to come to a boil, and then turn the heat down to minimum, put in the shanks (with what was the long axis of the bone pointing vertically), baste them with the liquid, and then cover the dutch oven.

(4) Simmer at minimum heat for one hour, and then turn the shanks over, always keeping the long axis of the bone pointing vertically.

(5) Simmer for another hour, and then turn the shanks again.

(6) Now that the shanks have been simmering for a total of two hours, this where some judgment comes in to play. They will surely need to cook for at least another half hour (for a total of 2.5 hours), but they could need another hour (for a total of 3 hours). Better a little overcooked, than a little undercooked. The consequence of the former is that the meat will be a little dry–but you are going to put plenty of nice sauce on it; the consequence of the latter is that the meat will be tough and gelatinous–blecch. Remove the finished shanks from the dutch oven, and place on a plate, and spoon some of the braising liquid on them to keep them moist.

(7) Turn the heat up to maximum and reduce the sauce down until it is nice and thick. A good way to tell when it is thick enough is that when you draw your wooden spoon across the bottom of the dutch oven, there will be a dry streak that takes a couple seconds to fill back in with liquid.

(8) Salt and pepper to taste, and remove as much of the aromatic herb pieces as you can find. You can puree in a blender (or with an immersion blender), or leave the pieces of diced vegetable intact. I prefer the latter.

(9) Pour the sauce on the shanks, and eat the motherfuckers!

About these ads