Osso Buco

History

Ossobuco takes its name from its defining cut - a cross-section of veal shank whose central bone holds a marrow cavity; osso buco means literally 'bone with a hole,' and the soft marrow is the dish's prized signature. It is a specialty of Lombard cooking long identified with Milan. Its precise beginnings are unsettled: marrow-and-shank cookery is sometimes traced to medieval Lombardy, while the earliest clearly documented recipes are nineteenth-century Milanese, notably the chef Giuseppe Sorbiatti's of 1879. Cooks distinguish an older 'in bianco' style, made without tomato and scented with aromatics such as cinnamon and bay, from a later version built on tomato with carrot, celery and onion. Artusi set the dish down as no. 358 in 1891, deferring to Milan as its rightful home. Contrary to the idea that his is a purely 'white' rendering, his own method calls for water and tomato sauce or conserva, aligning him with the tomato form. He finishes only with slivered lemon peel and a pinch of parsley - short of the garlic-laced gremolata (parsley, garlic and lemon zest) now considered traditional. The record does not fix exactly when tomato first entered the dish.

Ingredients

• osso buco (marrow-bone shank pieces of milk-fed veal)
• onion
• celery
• carrot
• butter
• salt
• pepper
• flour
• water
• tomato sauce or paste
• lemon peel
• pinch parsley

Instructions

1. Set one osso buco piece per person over a raw battuto of onion, celery, carrot and butter; season with salt and pepper.
2. Once flavoured, add a little butter worked with flour to colour and bind, and cook through with water and tomato sauce or paste.
3. Strain and degrease the gravy, then scent it with finely cut lemon peel and a pinch of chopped parsley before serving.