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Veal Shank Prices


NickV

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I've only recently started making osso buco at home, and I was wondering if veal shanks were traditionally an expensive cut of meat, or if the high price is a result of their association with the osso buco prepared at many high end Italian restaurants.

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I paid $7.69 a pound for some beautiful veal shanks at Wegman's today. I don't consider that very expensive considering what most meats cost. I got 2 gorgeous shanks for a little over $13.00. Big marrow bones too...yummy.

I think in general shanks are less expensive since they are considered to be an inferior cut of meat that needs braising. You & I both know that with some TLC and a great slow braise, these veal shanks will soon become....HEAVEN!!

To eat good food is to be close to God." -Big Night

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They used to be very reasonably priced just like sweetbreads and veal kidneys were years ago but yes, as they got more trendy so did the price. (Supply and demand.)

Milk fed veal the favorite of many, and most upper end restaurants, has always been pricey though.

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I wish I could get them for $7.69 here. In Manhattan they were $9.99 a pound at Food Emporium, and $14.99 at D'Agostinos. I was going to buy that large Le Creuset rissotto pot to make a big batch of them in, but realized 7-8 of them would be about $60-$90 in just meat costs. I here I was complaining about the cost of the pot! Then I was thinking about short ribs which are $5.99-$6.99 here. A decent pot roast is about $5.99 a pound too, and so was stew meat! So here I am with all this expensive Le Creuset I got to do all this braising, and nothing to make in it....LOL! I guess I had better search out some creative ways with chicken...sigh!

<< I paid $7.69 a pound for some beautiful veal shanks at Wegman's today. I don't consider that very expensive considering what most meats cost. I got 2 gorgeous shanks for a little over $13.00. Big marrow bones too...yummy.

I think in general shanks are less expensive since they are considered to be an inferior cut of meat that needs braising. You & I both know that with some TLC and a great slow braise, these veal shanks will soon become....HEAVEN!! >>

Edited by Blondelle (log)
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When I bough some veal shanks last week I believe they only cost me $4.99/lb Canadian. I got them from an Italian butcher in Vancouver called Cioffis. If my memory serves me correct most the veal cuts are from $4.99/lb to $9.99/lb, and I believe they are of a fairly good quality but I can not give any specifics on the type of veal they use. If you folks are paying $7+/lb does that mean am I missing out on the wonderful tastes that veal can offer, or are you being held by your ankles till your pockets are inside out :)?

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here is the thing with veal shanks; the hind shank is the prefered one versus the foreshank. hindshank has a higher meat to bone ratio and is larger in diameter. all this said, there is really only one or at best two good cuts out of the whole shank, a good cut defined as something that has at least as much meat as it has bone. the calf muscle on the veal leg is similar to ours in that it has a pronounced taper to it as you cut up or down from the center, you progressively get more bone and less meat in each cut. how thick the osso's are will also determine how many good cuts one gets per shank. one last thing if you are buying it from a market where it is overwrapped ask the clerk to remove it and show you the underside. typically a market will put the best face up, hiding just how much of the underside is bone. yes it has become every more popular hanec the price rise, sort of what has happened to chicken wings, flank steak, flat irons, etc

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There's a recent story on this from the Washington Post...not about shanks per se but about the rising price of veal.

Click here. (Article will expire off the site in one week.)

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Central Market in Houston always has some super-duper ones, but they're 9.99 a pound. I always figure 2 shanks for 2 of us will run me $20, but, no more often than we get them, I think it's a worthwhile splurge. They are tender and meaty. I'll fix polenta or just plain rice or mashed potatoes to help offset the cost of the total meal. Sometimes ya just gotta go for the gusto - or the veal shanks.

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