Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Whisk Wednesdays—Rouelles de Veau Bourgeoise (Veal Shanks with Pearl Onions and Mushrooms)

Rouelles de Veau Bourgeoise (Veal Shanks with Pearl Onions and Mushrooms)"Holed bone" is on the menu this week, better known as Osso Bucco (or Ossobucco). The meat comes from the back leg of the veal, called the shank, and the bone marrow is part of the appeal of the dish, which is best eaten with a marrow spoon.
"… there is no more impressive or tasty cut of braising meat on the planet, and you and your guests will feel the love when you taste it."
Mario Batali
I wasn't feelin' the love!

To make this dish, first you boil the veal! Basically, this makes a flavored stock to later braise the meat in. Other recipes for osso bucco dredge the meat in flour and brown it instead of boil it.

Then you make a roux and add the meat and braising liquid. Finally a few aromatics are added, consisting of a Bouquet Garni, salt and pepper. After awhile, the pearl onions are added (with one lonely onion studded with a clove).

When the meat is cooked through until fork tender, you set it aside and finish the sauce with a liaison of egg yolks.

The mushrooms, the best part of the dish, were sautéed in butter and added to the braised mixture just before serving. Season (generously!) and serve with a touch of parsley.

Recipe

Serves 6 (I halved the recipe.)

Rouelles de Veau Bourgeoise (Veal Shanks with Pearl Onions and Mushrooms)mise en place
3 pounds (approximately) veal shanks, sawed into 6 slices, each about 1½ inches thick
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 Bouquet Garni
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
30 pearl onions, peeled
1 clove
¾ pound small button or quartered large mushrooms, trimmed and cleaned
2 egg yolks
Parsley leaves for garnish

You can find the recipe for Rouelles de Veau Bourgeoise (Veal Shanks with Pearl Onions and Mushrooms) in the book Le Cordon Bleu at Home or here. To see how the rest of the Whisk Wednesdays group fared with their recipe, click here (or check out the sidebar) and then click on each blogger!

Rouelles de Veau Bourgeoise (Veal Shanks with Pearl Onions and Mushrooms)Tasting Notes
"Osso Buco can be either fabulous, or it can be decidedly mediocre."
Aunt Aletha and Dear Old Dave
Unfortunately, mine was mediocre. Although the meat was extremely tender, the sauce was thin and the flavor was lackluster. Next time, I'll buy a better cut of veal shank, dredge and brown the meat first, brown the roux to a darker color, use more flavorful aromatics, add bacon or pancetta, use homemade veal stock, and thicken the sauce with another egg or through reduction. If there is a next time!

Links
• Video: How to Make Osso Bucco
• Chocolate & Zuchhini: Jarret de Veau Braisé à la Cuiller
• Cook Eat Fret: osso buco my way
• La Tartine Gourmande: Osso Bucco Comfort Food

Next Class
• Gratin de Fruits au Marasquin (Fruit Gratin with Maraschino Liqueur) page 376

. . . . . . . . . .

Running total: $1,304.02 + $19.80 (veal) + $8.56 (other ingredients) = $1,332.38
($9.45 per serving)

Butter used so far: 12 pounds, 1.5 tablespoons

. . . . . . . . . .
::Whisk Wednesdays::
We're cooking our way through a cooking school curriculum using the Le Cordon Bleu at Home cookbook. The "classes" are based on the Le Cordon Bleu curriculum found online and used as a guideline. Not all the items in the curriculum are in the cookbook, but most are. Where the items are not in the book, we try to find a suitable substitution. Find out more here.
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  • 19 comments:

    Unknown said...

    Bummer, sorry it didn't work out. It looks wonderful though!

    angela@spinachtiger said...

    Shari
    Maybe I shouldn't feel so bad then that my veal went bad in fridge before I got the chance to cook it. I think the idea of "boiling" meat is hard to take. I like your idea of dredging in flour and browning.

    PheMom said...

    Oh, bummer! I saw your link of FB of just the title and thought, "GREAT!" now, not so much since you didn't love it. Hmmm. I don't like the sound of boiling the veal either - it still looks good though!

    Mermaid Sews said...

    I love this dish, and I absolutely love your whisk wednesdays!

    Dishin And Dishes said...

    It didn't work out? It looks so good right now as your pictures are wonderful! I adore pearl onions...especially in Coq Au Vin!

    Eliana said...

    This dish looks so great and sophisticated. I love it.

    Malak said...

    Could something that looks so succulent not be scrumptious?!I love the bubbling mushrooms in the second photo! Looks delicious. But I appreciate your honesty -- and your recommendations for the next time!

    La Bella Cooks said...

    Your photos are amazing but I am sorry to hear it didn't quite work out for you. I would eat all the mushrooms and call it good ;)

    Monica H said...

    It looks good to me, but I can see how dredging and browning it forst would impart some really good flavor.

    lisa is cooking said...

    The mushroom do look delicious! I haven't thickened a sauce with egg yolks before. Something I'll have to try.

    Manggy said...

    Sorry to hear it wasn't as great as you would've like :( But we're no strangers to boiled shank in this country-- we have a famous soup which is basically that (and cabbage and potatoes) :)

    Jeff said...

    I do not know if I could bring myself to boil veal shank. There is something magical about browning them that makes me happy and fills the house with joy. I do see where they were coming with by the veal stock though. Thankfully I got lucky and my favorite butcher has veal bones so I can make veal stock.

    I could eat a plate of mushrooms cooked in butter all day long. Throw in those onions and happy happy happy.

    Kayte said...

    Great photos...I could not get mine to look like anything. I wasn't excited about the dish, and it didn't wow me either. The version you suggested at the end sounded like it had more possibility for flavor. Still, all in all, I learned and am happy that I made it.

    Stacey said...

    That looks amazing! Beautiful photos too! :)

    Selba said...

    It looks yummy... too bad, it tasted mediocre.

    pigpigscorner said...

    Another great recipe! Such wonderful combo of ingredients.

    Donna-FFW said...

    It looks beyond fantastic to me, as does evrything you make, I am sorry it didnt turn out as you had hoped. Such a gorgeous dish!

    Engineer Baker said...

    Browning makes everything better. That's why I'm always stunned when recipes don't have you dredge and brown before braising, etc. So much more flavor. The dish itself sounds amazing though!

    Elyse said...

    Oh, Shari, this looks divine! I love seeing all of your creative concoctions. You're so inspiring! Sorry that I’ve been an absent commenter; I just finished up my law school exams and am finally getting around to my google reader.