Shank
The shank is lean and flavourful, and is a cut that should be slowly simmered, either whole, in rounds, or boned. The foreshank is smaller and less meaty, but imparts a delicious flavour to broths and stocks for use in sauces, and is a great addition to pot-au-feu. Meatier and containing more marrow, the hind shank is a good choice for stew and osso bucco. It's also succulent when served warm on remoulade sauce, or jellied and sauced with a vinaigrette that's been well-seasoned with herbs and good coarse mustard. Our tip: Always start by searing the shanks quickly before simmering them over low heat.

The perfect cut for slow simmering is the shank, which pairs beautifully with all kinds of new vegetables: carrots, young onions, potatoes and peas. It's a lean, stringy, gelatinous cut, with a marrow-rich bone.

The fore shank is usually reserved for making stock, while the larger hind shank, meatier and containing more marrow, is better suited to braising, either whole or sliced into rounds (bone in), and slow-cooked in the Italian dish osso buco.

When boned, both cuts can be braised and used in stews. Even if you're buying boned meat, ask your butcher for the shank bone, because cooking it with the meat will give wonderful body to your sauce.

Chef's tip
Luc Iacono of the Bistro du Louvre in Paris offers veal rillettes served with a slice of toasted country bread rubbed with garlic, and a salad of lamb's lettuce and confit tomato.

To make the rillettes, he first cooks pieces of neck and shank in a vegetable broth flavoured with bay, thyme and rosemary. He then shreds the veal and cooks it like a confit over very low heat in goose or duck fat. Then the seasoning is corrected and the mixture is packed into a mould and chilled.