A Grand Bone

A Grand Bone



“That,” said The Wife, “is a grand bone.”

She had just been served an osso buco at Grotto (Oak Brook), and I have to admit, it was bigger than I expected. It was set off with a burning bush of rosemary (still smoldering in the above shot), an amusing Alinean affect in what seemed an almost country-club-feeling dining room (because I caddied in Oak Brook as a youth, I can’t go to that town without thinking of humid putting greens and old men hurling their wedges into sand traps for me to rake out).

I hardly ever get veal, not because I have any moral/political problems with the meat, but because it’s expensive and usually doesn’t taste like much. Not for nothing this used to be a cheap cut (when I was a kid, we’d have “mock chicken legs,” which was veal dressed up to look like something fancier).

This osso buco turned out to be as tasty as it was impressive looking. This veal was so delicate, with lush deliciousness, a nest of tender threads, enhanced with an excellent sauce, hints of marjoram and lemon, over a herb-rich risotto.

It was embarrassingly huge, must have had a half-pound on meat on it.

As luck would have it, The Wife was getting full so I ate a bunch, and then we brought the bone home.

At home, we used the bone to make about four cups of reduced veal stock that was just magnificent. It made me want to seek out veal bones (I know they have them sometimes at Caputo’s) and just make a pot of the stuff every week for soup and sauces.

Now, I understand that veal stock is treasured by French chefs and others, but I guess I was just taken aback by how much subtle flavor those young bones hold. It’s kind of a shame that restaurants are prohibited by health code (I believe) from using bones from great veal and beef steaks to make stock. Seems like such a waste to chuck those powerful carriers of flavor into the trash. When we go out to eat bone-in meat, we always bring home the bones, even if picked clean, even if just chicken bones, to make a stock.

Veal, I have come to understand your tastiness.

Bone, you were, indeed, grand.

Veal bones are readily avail or @ least easily ordered. They are not prohibited by the health dept. What is hard to get though are my faves "split knuckles". They make the best stock, hands down.

Jazzfood wrote:Veal bones are readily avail or @ least easily ordered. They are not prohibited by the health dept. What is hard to get though are my faves "split knuckles". They make the best stock, hands down.

Readily available to the public, or for a restaurant?
Not doubting you at all, I just don't recall seeing them very often.

Jazzfood wrote:Veal bones are readily avail or @ least easily ordered. They are not prohibited by the health dept. What is hard to get though are my faves "split knuckles". They make the best stock, hands down.

Alan, right, I wasn't clear: veal bones are certainly not prohibited, but my point was that restaurants are prohibited from using bones, returned from the dining room, to make stock, which is too bad in that a lot of potential stock material is going in the trash.

I may have used a beef knuckle somehwere a long the line. Full of collagen, I'm guessing, and so good for stock.

David Hammond wrote:

Jazzfood wrote:Veal bones are readily avail or @ least easily ordered. They are not prohibited by the health dept. What is hard to get though are my faves "split knuckles". They make the best stock, hands down.

Alan, right, I wasn't clear: veal bones are certainly not prohibited, but my point was that restaurants are prohibited from using bones, returned from the dining room, to make stock, which is too bad in that a lot of potential stock material is going in the trash.

But, of course, there is no such prohibition against customers using such bones for stock. I get strange looks from dining companions and servers alike when I ask for my completely de-meated chicken or duck carcasses to be packed up to go, but I'm always happy to have done so when it's time to make stock. Same should apply for steak bones, but for some reason I haven't yet started asking for those to be packed up. I'm gonna start.

Kennyz wrote:

David Hammond wrote:

Jazzfood wrote:Veal bones are readily avail or @ least easily ordered. They are not prohibited by the health dept. What is hard to get though are my faves "split knuckles". They make the best stock, hands down.

Alan, right, I wasn't clear: veal bones are certainly not prohibited, but my point was that restaurants are prohibited from using bones, returned from the dining room, to make stock, which is too bad in that a lot of potential stock material is going in the trash.

But, of course, there is no such prohibition against customers using such bones for stock. I get strange looks from dining companions and servers alike when I ask for my completely de-meated chicken or duck carcasses to be packed up to go, but I'm always happy to have done so when it's time to make stock. Same should apply for steak bones, but for some reason I haven't yet started asking for those to be packed up. I'm gonna start.

Right, yes, I was pretty sure I wasn't in violation of health codes when I asked to bring home The Grand Bone.

Like you, I grab the bones after dinner, even those of dining mates. Buddy and I had two Porterhouses at Gibson's last summer, and I took home both bones, largely meat-free but full of flavor for stock.

Did Someone Say Grand Bones?

Oh, goodness - where are those? Inquiring Fuzzballs in the house want to know.