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How does one slice the beef into chunks if one is starting with a beef shank "on the bone"? If it's an osso bucco cut you're thinking of, I think one would have to saw the beef shanks into appropriately sized pieces rather than simply "slice" them.

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Excellent point! It may be a European butcher thing, but you can buy beef shank on the bone in osso buco-like slices. It was once explained to me that US lamb shanks are much larger than European lamb shanks because they are taken from the bigger hind shank not, as in Europe, from the much smaller fore shank. When I make this beef shank recipe, I keep the beef slices whole, like in osso buco. But with the US/UK difference with lamb shanks in mind, I suggested cutting the beef as, because if it's asked for at a butcher as I've named it, it is more likely to come from the larger hind shank as in the US diagram, above. So long as the bone is thrown in for flavour, the beef could be sliced off it - but substantial pieces, not small cubes, would be preferable.

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Two centuries old? Possibly millennia?

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My best numbers editor! Yes. You're absolutely right. Sigh. I will try harder but not enough fingers.

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