An ossobuco with its marrow bone, served alongside saffron risotto alla milanese

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Ossobuco alla Milanese

Name: Ossobuco alla Milanese
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Lombard
Ingredients: 2 pieces (about 500 g total) Veal shank, cross-cut (ossibuchi); 30 g Plain flour; 40 g Butter; 80 g Onion; 100 ml Dry white wine; 300 ml Meat broth, hot; to taste Salt and black pepper; 1 lemon Lemon zest; 1 clove Garlic; 10 g Flat-leaf parsley

Two cross-cut veal shanks braised in white wine and broth until the meat gives way at a fork, finished with raw lemon, garlic and parsley — and the marrow in the middle of the bone is the reason the dish exists.

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Resep oleh Milanese home kitchens · 🏠 Masakan rumahan · Home cooking of Milan and Lombardy

Lombard regional · Milan — A speciality of Lombard cooking: cross-cut veal shanks braised with vegetables, white wine and broth, garnished with gremolada and served traditionally with either risotto alla milanese or polenta depending on the region. The marrow in the hole of the bone — the ossobuco, literally 'bone with a hole' — is the prized part and the defining feature of the dish.

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Cut through the membrane that rings each shank in three or four places with the tip of a knife.
💡 Skip this and the membrane tightens as it heats and curls the shank into a bowl shape, so it browns unevenly and cooks unevenly ever after.
Tie a length of kitchen string around the outside of each shank, snug but not tight, so the meat stays wrapped around its bone.
Pat them dry, season with salt and pepper, and dust both faces with flour, patting the excess off.
Melt the butter in a heavy pan just wide enough to hold both shanks, over medium heat, until it foams and the foam starts to subside.
💡 Butter burns fast. If it is browning at the edges before the meat goes in, the pan is too hot — pull it off for a moment.
Brown the shanks 4–5 minutes a side, until a deep golden crust forms and they release from the pan on their own. Lift them onto a plate.
Turn the heat down to low, add the finely chopped onion to the same pan, and cook it 6–8 minutes, until it is soft, sweet and translucent but has taken no colour.
Raise the heat, pour in the white wine, and let it bubble for 2–3 minutes, scraping the browned bits off the bottom, until the liquid has halved.
💡 Those brown scraps on the base are pure flavour and they only lift while the wine is boiling. Get them all up before you go further.
Return the shanks to the pan in a single layer, bone side up so no marrow escapes, and pour in enough hot broth to come about two-thirds of the way up them.
Bring it to a bare simmer, cover, and leave it for about 1 hour 45 minutes over the lowest heat, turning the shanks once halfway.
💡 A bare simmer means one bubble breaking every second or two. Boiling squeezes the meat fibres tight — you get shank that is cooked through and still tough, which no amount of extra time will fix.
It is ready when a fork slides into the meat with no resistance and the flesh has started to pull back from the bone. Add a splash more broth any time the pan looks dry.
Make the gremolada while it finishes: chop the lemon zest, garlic and parsley together on a board until they are fine and fragrant.
Snip the strings off, scatter the gremolada over the shanks, and put the lid back on for 2 minutes off the heat.
💡 The gremolada goes in raw at the very end and is never cooked. Its whole job is to cut through two hours of butter and marrow with a jolt of lemon and garlic.
Serve each shank with its sauce spooned over, and give everyone a small spoon for the marrow — in Milan that is the best bite on the plate.

💡 Tips

Beginner's mistake: not tying the shanks. Two hours of gentle simmering will slide the meat off the bone and leave you with stew — the string is what keeps an ossobuco looking like an ossobuco.
Veal shank is the traditional cut and the expensive one. Beef shank works with the same method — it needs about 30 minutes longer and tastes stronger, less delicate.
Milan serves this with risotto alla milanese, and the two were made for each other — the saffron rice soaks up the braising juices. Polenta is the other traditional partner.
Many modern recipes add tomato. The Milanese version is made without it — if you want it, a tablespoon of purée with the onion is as far as tradition will stretch.