Osso Buco alla Milanese

Ingredients

• 4 thick veal shin steaks, on the bone
• 40 g plain flour
• 50 g butter
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 carrots, finely diced
• 2 celery sticks, finely diced
• 250 ml dry white wine
• 500 ml chicken stock
• 1/2 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• zest of 1 lemon
• a big handful of parsley
• 2 garlic cloves

Method

1. Tie and flour

   Tie a length of string around the circumference of each piece so it holds together, then dust in seasoned flour. Untied, the meat pulls away from the bone during the braise and falls apart in the pan.

2. Brown in butter

   Brown the shins hard on both sides in the butter and set aside. Butter rather than oil — this is a Milanese dish and the butter matters to the finished sauce.

   10 min

3. Fine soffritto

   Cook the onion, carrot and celery in the same pan until completely soft. Dice them small; they are meant to melt into the sauce rather than sit in it.

   15 min

4. Wine, then the long braise

   Add the wine and reduce by half, then the stock, tomatoes and bay. Return the shins standing upright so the marrow stays in the bone, and cook covered at 150°C for two hours.

   2 h

5. Judge it

   It is ready when the meat gives completely to a spoon and the marrow is soft in the middle of the bone. That marrow is the best part — serve a small spoon with it.

6. Gremolata at the end

   Chop the lemon zest, parsley and garlic together and scatter over just before serving. Raw and sharp, it cuts through two hours of richness — stirred in and cooked, it would do nothing at all.