Ossobuco

Let me tell you about ossobuco, and why it is nothing like an ordinary steak.

Ossobuco is a crosscut of veal shank, bone in, with the marrow still sitting inside that bone like treasure in a drawer. Look at the slice: a ring of meat wrapped around a ring of bone, and in the center, that pale marrow. This is what gives the dish its name — "bone with a hole." That ring of meat is laced with sinew, and sinew does not forgive a hot pan or a short cooking time. So you don't grill it. Put it in the pot instead, with wine or stock, and let it simmer low and slow until a fork slides through the meat with no fight at all, and the marrow turns soft enough to spread on bread. Patience does the work here, not your knife.

Choose a piece that looks moist, not wet. Fine-grained, with a clean smell. The marrow should sit firm in the bone and smell fresh, with no off odor.

Some people say ossobuco is a quick dish, because veal is "tender meat." No! Veal shank is the opposite of tender until it's been tamed by slow cooking. Rush it, and you'll be sawing at meat that won't let go of the bone, and chewing long after you expected to be done. Patience is the whole recipe.