Ossobuco is a traditional Italian dish made from braised veal shank with bone marrow intact. It is slow-cooked to make it tender and flavorful, and served with gremolata. The dish is popular in northern Italy and can be eaten alone or with rice or risotto. However, bone marrow can be a potential source of Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (CJD) infection, so it should be avoided in regions with an insecure supply of beef.
Ossobuco is an Italian dish made from braised veal shank, cooked on the bone with the marrow intact. The result is a rich, flavorful dish with tender meat and well-seasoned bone marrow, a meat product that is considered a special treat in many regions of the world. Ossobuco can be eaten on its own as a stew or served with rice or risotto. It is particularly popular in northern Italy and is often sold as ossobuco alla Milanese, in reference to a city where it is commonly served.
The shank is an interesting cut of meat because it tastes great, but it’s also very chewy and stringy, because it comes from the top of the leg, a part of a cow that sees a lot of work during the cow’s life. Shanks tend to do best when cooked slowly over low heat, gently dissolving the connective tissue of the meat to make it extremely tender. Slow cooking also allows the meat to develop layers of flavor and when a lot of liquid is used, the osso bucco will be very moist and tender when it’s done.
To prepare the osso bucco, cook the brown veal shanks in a large pot before setting them aside and sauteing the onions, along with your other vegetables of your choice such as carrots, celery and tomatoes. Some fresh herbs like thyme and oregano are mixed in and then the pot is glazed with dry white wine to remove the flavorful crust from the bottom. The shanks are added back to the pot, more wine is added, and then the pot is left to simmer slowly for about two hours.
Osso bucco can be prepared on the stovetop, in which case it requires careful monitoring, or in the oven. Either way, the dish is finished when the meat is so tender it has begun to fall away from the bone, and it’s traditionally served with gremolata, an Italian condiment made from finely chopped parsley, garlic, and chopped lemon zest.
Osso bucco means “bone hole” in Italian, emphasizing the role of bone marrow in the finished dish. Bone marrow has a very distinctive, rich flavor that is enhanced by the slow stewing process. Unfortunately, it can also be a potential source of Creutzfeld-Jakob disease (CJD) infection, known as bovine spongiform encephalitis (BSE), or “mad cow disease” in cattle. This neurological disease is deadly and incurable, so if you live in a region with an insecure supply of beef, you may want to skip the marrow for safety’s sake.
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