Ossobuco alla Milanese

Name: Ossobuco alla Milanese
Total time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: Veal shin; Olive oil; Onion; Carrot; Celery; Dry white wine; Beef stock; Bay leaf; Flat-leaf parsley; Garlic; Black pepper

Ossobuco alla Milanese, plated as one serving.

706 kcal a serving, against 856 for the traditional version. That is 150 kcal off, or 18%, with 59.4g of protein. Serves 4. 2 hours 30 minutes.

What the traditional version is

Thick slices of veal shin on the bone, dusted heavily in seasoned plain flour, then fried in a heavy mix of butter and olive oil until dark brown. Braised for hours in white wine, rich beef stock, onions, carrots and celery. Finished with gremolata, which is a sharp mix of chopped parsley, garlic and lemon zest.

What changed, and what each change costs

Drop 50g of butter and 30g of olive oil down to 15g of olive oil

Searing meat in butter tastes great, but it adds a huge whack of pure fat to the pan. You only need a thin slick of oil to get a proper crust on the veal if your pan is hot enough.

What it costs you. Butter gives the finished sauce a glossy, rich finish that you lose here. You end up with just a slightly thinner sauce that relies entirely on the reduced stock for its mouthfeel. The version that's a disaster is still out there and still better.

Skip the 30g of plain flour

The flour is traditionally there to thicken the braising liquid as it cooks in the oven. Dropping it removes the starch from the plate.

What it costs you. You have to reduce the sauce on the hob at the end to get it to cling to the meat. It takes an extra 10 minutes of your time and demands a bit of attention right before you serve.

Trim the external band of fat from the 1200g of veal shin

Veal shin has a thick, tough belt of fat around the outside edge. Snipping it off saves fat while keeping the main muscle and the prized marrow intact.

What it costs you. Animal fat equals deep flavour. The resulting broth will taste a little less intense. You also have to tie the meat firmly with string so it doesn't fall apart in the pan.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Veal shin
Olive oil
Onion
Carrot
Celery
Dry white wine
Beef stock
Bay leaf
Flat-leaf parsley
Garlic
Black pepper

How it starts

Get your veal shin on a board.
Heat a large heavy pan with the olive oil over a high heat.
Turn the heat down to medium.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish Italian.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	856	706
Protein	60.2g	59.4g
Fat	57.2g	43.3g
Saturated fat	22.8g	15.9g
Carbohydrate	16.1g	10.5g
Protein per 100 kcal	7g	8.4g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish Italian prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. celery, sulphites.

The method is in the book

The marrow is still there, and that's all that really matters. You lose the buttery gloss of the old version, but you gain a sharper, punchier sauce that lets the meat speak for itself. You'll need a bit of bread to scrape the plate clean. It's exactly the sort of trade I'm happy to make.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish Italian, along with 59 more. Buy the paperback