Day 47: Meat Week Continues

One dish I had been curious about is osso buco. I didn't know what it was nor did I know what it tasted like. I was very excited to learn that we would be making this dish today.

My preparation for the osso buco includes a fine brunoise of celery and carrot that will be used later in the sauce for the osso buco. A mirepoix of diced onions, celery and carrot and a tomato that will be braised with the osso buco and veal stock in the oven.

Osso buco made using the braising technique. As with most braising dishes, the meat is cooked for a very long time at a low heat. Osso buco is no exception. The meat used in this dish is the shank. Portion size is about an inch and half to two inches. Before we braise the shank, we dust it in seasoned flour and season it salt before it is seared on both sides in a pan with oil. The searing gives it a nice colour and also looks in moisture which helps when braising for long periods of time.

Once the shank has been seared I move it from the pan and sautee the mirepoix. After I have deglazed with red wine, I add some flour to make a roux. The flour is cooked out and I add back in the beef shank to the pan and add veal stock, a canned plum tomato, basil and thyme, covering with tin foil and place it an oven of 325 F to cook. It takes about two hours at this temperature and at that time the beef should be tender and falling off the bone. To slow cook the beef shank the oven would be set at 250 F.

When the osso buco has finished cooking, I remove it from the oven and leave the shank to rest covered in foil. The sauce is strained to remove the mirepoix. The liquid is reduced to about half and tasted to make sure that it's been seasoned properly. A gastric (red wine vinegar and sugar) is added to the reduced liquid and reduced more to achieve a thin sauce. Just before serving, I add the fine brunoise of celery and carrots to the sauce and ladle over the plated osso buco. Because the celery and carrots have been finely brunoised, it doesn't take long to cook in a hot sauce.

While the osso buco is cooking in the oven we make our chicken fricassee. I start off with the mise en place for this dish. The chicken is dusted lightly with flour and seasoned with salt and pepper. I also prepare some asparagus (the vegetable for this dish) by peeling it and julienne onions, minced garlic and slided shallots, sliced bacon, bay leaf, thyme and green apple for the white sauce. The fricassee starts off with lightly searing the seasoned chicken pieces in a pan of hot oil. It's important for this dish that you do not brown the chicken. The seared chicken is removed and I sweat the shallots, bacon, bay leaf, thyme and green apple to release their flavours. I deglaze the pan with white wine and then add some flour making a roux. When the flour has been cooked out I return the chicken to the pan and add chicken stock, cover with tin foil and place it in the oven to cook at 325 F.

I am serving asparagus and spaetzle with the chicken fricassee. While the chicken is cooking in the oven I get my vegetable and risotto going. The asparagus is peeled and I blanch it in hot salted water and cool it down in cold water, and drain. Closer to plating I will saute the asparagus in a little bit of butter and water. This will give the asparagus a light butter glaze that isn't heavy or greasy.

Spaetzle is basically a very small flour dumpling. The spaetzle mixture consists of one egg, salt, pepper, nutmeg, all purpose flour and milk. The batter is smooth and the consistency of a fish batter. To make the spaetzle you need a special tool used for making spaetzle. It has holes in it like a colander with a holder to hold the batter while allowing it to slide back and forth across the holes. Over a pot of boiling salted water the batter is dropped into the water with the spaetzle maker. When the little dough dumplings rise to the top, it is ready and can be strained from the water and I let them rest on a baking sheet. The next step for making the spaetzle for our side dish is to saute them in clarified butter giving them a bit of colour. Just before the spaetzle are removed from the heat I toss them with fresh parsley.

When the chicken is cooked through I take it out of the oven. I remove the chicken and strain the liquid that will be used to make the white sauce. The liquid is reduced, cream is added and seasoned with salt and pepper to taste.

Today we also made barbeque sauce that will be used for grilled barbecue chicken tomorrow. I've made a barbeque sauce before. However, I've never made a cooked barbeque sauce, which is what we made today. The ingredients going in to the barbeque sauce are: toasted peppercorns, caraway, cumin, mustard seed, all spice and fennel (and ground afterwards), onions, garlic, salt, pepper, Worcestershire, sun dried chili powder, paprika, brown sugar, red wine vinegar, molasses, honey and tomatoes. The sauce is cooked until it has reduced and further develop the flavours, then buzzed with the immersion blender for a smooth texture.

Two braised dishes and a barbecue sauce today. Homework? I'm tired and don't know how much I'll get done tonight.