Signature · about 6 h 30 min spread over 3 days (braise of about 3 h two days ahead), plus 8–12 hours of salting · Serves 4
Osso buco, mushroom and gremolata stuffed cabbage roll
Illustrative image generated with AI, not a photo of the cooked dish.
Kitchen test pending
The niño envuelto (stuffed cabbage roll) of braised meat in cabbage leaf, crossed with the Milanese ossobuco and its gremolata. It is the course of greatest umami depth on the stuffed-rolls menu: braised osso buco, mushroom duxelles and a mushroom consommé served at the table.
The twist is to look for a clean-cut, almost geometric piece, instead of a rustic shredded roll. A small amount of natural osso buco glace gives cohesion to the filling, which is formed cold inside plastic film before wrapping: the cold and the gelatin set the shape without turning it into a terrine. The consommé does not wait under the roll: it is poured at the end, at the table, so the cabbage arrives defined. The fresh gremolata cuts the depth with parsley and lemon.
Special equipment: oven-safe Dutch oven; steamer or steam oven; probe thermometer; plastic film
Ingredients
Osso buco
- 1.4 kg bone-in veal shank (osso buco), 4–5 slices
- 12 g fine salt
- 20 ml neutral oil
- 120 g onion, in small cubes
- 90 g carrot, in small cubes
- 70 g celery, in small cubes
- 2 garlic cloves
- 15 g tomato paste
- 240 ml dry white wine
- 700 ml beef stock
- 4 thyme sprigs
- 2 bay leaves
Duxelles
- 360 g fresh mushrooms, very finely chopped
- 70 g shallot, finely chopped
- 24 g butter
- 10 ml neutral oil
- 2 thyme sprigs
Filling
- 340 g cooked osso buco
- 160 g finished duxelles
- 30 g dry Carnaroli rice (70 g cooked)
- 30 g osso buco glace
Wrapping
- 10–12 large white cabbage leaves
- Salt for the blanching water: 10 g per liter
Mushroom consommé
- 160 g fresh mushrooms
- 10 g dried porcini or boletus
- 500 ml light stock
- 240–300 ml of the skimmed osso buco liquid
- Salt
Gremolata
- 20 g parsley
- Zest of 1 lemon
- ½ garlic clove
- 40 ml olive oil
Finishing
- 80 g fresh mushrooms, for sautéing
- A drop of neutral oil and salt
- 40 g cleaned bone marrow, optional
Method
Osso buco
- Salting and browning. Salt the osso buco 8–12 hours ahead. Dry it carefully, brown it intensely on both sides in the oil and remove it. Cook the onion, carrot and celery 8–10 minutes, add the garlic and tomato paste and cook 2 minutes.
- Braising. Deglaze with the white wine and reduce by half. Add the stock, thyme and bay leaves, return the osso buco, cover and braise at 140 °C (285 °F) for about 3 hours, checking from 2½: the meat should come away from the bone without turning into dry fibers. Separate meat, bones and liquid; strain and skim the liquid.
- Glace. Intensely reduce a small part of the liquid to a fluid glace, of which 30 g are used in the filling and a little for lacquering. Save the rest of the liquid for the consommé.
Duxelles
- Drying. Sweat the shallot in the butter and oil over medium heat 3–4 minutes, without much color. Add the chopped mushrooms and thyme, raise to medium-high heat and cook 12–18 minutes, stirring. First they release water, then they seem to boil and finally they start to fry slightly in their own fat: that change indicates they have lost just enough moisture. Weigh: 160 g are needed. What is left over serves as a base for the roll at plating.
Filling
- Mixing. Cook the Carnaroli to about 70 g cooked. Chop or shred the osso buco without completely destroying its fiber and mix it with the duxelles, rice and glace, warm, at about 30–35 °C (86–95 °F), so the glace spreads. Taste the salt. Divide into 8 portions of 75 g.
- Pre-shaping. Place each portion on a rectangle of film, roll it into a firm cylinder and twist the ends. Refrigerate at least 2 hours, ideally until the next day.
Wrapping
- Blanching and assembly. Separate the leaves, shave down the thick rib and blanch them 90–120 seconds in salted water. Move them to ice and dry them very well. Remove the film from the cold cylinders, wrap them in the cabbage and leave them seam side down, in the refrigerator.
Mushroom consommé
- Infusion. Gently heat the fresh mushrooms, dried mushroom and light stock and hold them 25–30 minutes without a hard boil. Strain.
- Adjusting. Add the skimmed osso buco liquid and reduce only as needed to gain intensity: a gelatinous sauce is not wanted, it must be pourable at the table. Salt at the end.
Gremolata
- Chopping. Blanch the tip of the garlic about 30 seconds and cool it. Very finely chop the parsley and garlic, and mix with the lemon zest and oil. Do not cook it and prepare it at most a few hours before serving.
Finishing
- Reheating. Heat the rolls with steam at 90 °C (194 °F) —in a steam oven or a covered steamer— to 74 °C (165 °F) at the center, checking with the probe from 12 minutes; for 75 g rolls it usually takes 15–20 minutes (estimate to confirm at the first test). Dry them, brush them with very little glace and place them under the hot broiler 30–40 seconds. Wait 1 minute and cut them on the diagonal with a very sharp knife: fresh from the steam, the filling is too soft for a clean cut.
- Mushrooms and marrow. Sauté the mushrooms over high heat with a drop of oil and salt them at the end. If using marrow, heat it separately and limit it to 8–10 g per person: it is an accent, not another fatty side.
The dish
Use wide, warmed deep plates. Put two teaspoons of duxelles, almost invisible, as a support, and set on top the four halves of the two rolls, with the cut in view and at different heights. Add 4 or 5 sautéed mushrooms, drops of gremolata and, if using, the marrow. Bring to the table about 60–70 ml of very hot consommé per person in a small pitcher and pour it around the roll in front of the diner, so the cabbage arrives defined until the last moment. Final look: a clean cut with layers of dark meat, mushrooms and rice, surrounded by the pale cabbage, with the green of the gremolata and the amber, steaming consommé.
Key points
- Sweat the shallot without much color and take the duxelles until it starts to fry: with moisture, the filling does not cut cleanly.
- Mix the filling warm so the glace spreads, and pre-shape it cold to set the geometry.
- Dry the blanched leaves very well before wrapping.
- Reheat to 74 °C (165 °F) at the center and wait a minute before cutting.
- Serve the consommé at the table, never under the roll for several minutes.
Pairing
A fresh, not too alcoholic Cabernet Franc. Without alcohol, a cold infusion of toasted mushrooms, very light black tea and lemon peel.
Notes
- Servings: the original was a tasting course of 50 g of filling per person. This version is a main course: it doubles the original batch for 6 and serves 2 rolls of 75 g per person. The reheating time for rolls of this size is an estimate: the probe rules.
- It is wise to blanch two or three extra leaves in case one tears.