“Hey Doug, what did you make for supper last night?”
“Stinco.”
“I didn’t ask how it smelled.”
Well, actually I didn’t make Stinco last night. I was unable to obtain the main ingredient – two whole veal shanks from the hind leg. I had to make a major modification and go with two pieces of veal shank, similar to the previous Ossobuco recipes, but as thick as I could find. I had to drive into Ottawa, well actually a suburb called Bells Corners, to obtain even those – at an excellent butcher shop called The Butchery.
Ingredients below include white wine, butter, vegetable oil, salt, pepper, anchovies, onion and garlic. The onion and garlic are from my garden. I am preparing my garden for winter, harvesting some vegetables that do well left in the garden until October – potatoes, onions, carrots, beets. I cooked some small beets as a veg to go with the veal.
I just planted my 2011 crop of garlic a couple of days ago. Garlic is very easy to grow. Plant in the fall, cover with a mulch, arrange the mulch between the rows in the spring to control the weeds, harvest in August, hang to dry in the shed, repeat in October.

Preparing this recipe is very easy – everything goes into one pot – thick-bottomed according to the instructions – and slowly cooks for a long time – two hours for the whole shank recipe, add a bit of water to the pot juices, boil away & pour the pot juices over the veal.
To repeat, the final result is NOT the Stinco recipe in Marcella’s book. If I had been able to obtain the whole shanks I would have done so.

What I liked about this recipe:
1. Well, like many other recipes I’ve attempted, this was a novel experience for me – never cooked veal shank before.
2. Single pan recipe – a big check mark in my book.
3. Small list of ingredients.
4. Great aroma as it is cooking.
5. Excellent result.
6. Found an excellent butcher shop. I’ll add The Butchery to my rounds when I go into Ottawa. I drive into the city every two weeks.
What I didn’t like about this recipe:
1. The difficulty in obtaining the main ingredient was initially frustrating. Once I decided to go with the two pieces instead of a whole shank, my attitude improved.
2. Unfortunate name, don’t you think?
Would I make it again?
Yes. It was excellent. Also, I am going to try the Ossobuco recipes in the book.