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I was at the market this weekend when i came across this being offered for £10.00 a pack

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The Butcher was offering it to me as shin beef on the bone but when I said it was small for beef and inquired if it was veal, he looked rather taken aback and said no, and that it was very young beef ! As soon as I mentioned 'Osso bocco he realised that the game was up and agreed it was Veal.

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The pack contained 15 pieces of osso bucco and all were decent quality. What i don't understand is the secrecy regarding veal as I'm sure that if he had come clean and advertised them correctly, then the price would almost be double what he was charging. Maybe the market is not 'up-market' enough ? Anyone else come across this type of 'denial' were veal is concerned. By the way, I believe this to be the Rose' type veal of and not the milk fed anemic stuff everyone used to protest about.

Great buy! There is a stigma against veal in the US among some consumers. I don't buy much but mostly due to price. Foie gras has a similar stigma. Chuckwagon suggested, and I've tried it and agree, that pork loin soaked in buttermilk makes a good stand in for veal in Weisswurst for instance. Low veal pricing in the fall probably means higher beef prices this winter for you.

Hadn't the definition at one time of Veal, used to be the meat from "Day old Calves"? I'm not sure these days how veal is actually defined (If indeed it is) Over here in Greece, the Greeks love all their animals to be on the young side. Veal here is called as (Phonetic spelling) Moushari & Beef as Vothino. From what I can gather the veal is from beasts under six months of age & the beef has to be under two years (usually 18 months)
The young beef/veal is widely consumed & costs around 18/20 euro a kilo...I find the meat tender but pretty bland. Much rather have a nice bit off an older animal & especially if the beef has a nice brown colour rather that the usual bright red...sadly Greeks don't believe in "ageing" their beef !

Sundodger,
Have you checked out how to age beef on the UMAi forum, in their bags, age in your fridge or check YouTube.
Cheers,
Jan.

Not much veal stigma in Australia
If you want a dairy industry you have to have pregnant cows, some of them will be boys and they dont produce milk.
I lived next to a predominantly Italian suburb and there was lots of Veal in the butchers,it was a European butchers speciality in the past, now all the supermarket chains stock it.
Its not expensive, similar to beef in price.
Ive got a fair bit in the freezer
I love a Saltimbocca or a veal ragu

There is and or was a lot of bad press related to veal due to how the animals were raised, I don't know anymore if that has changed, I certainly hope so, as I can remember seeing some pretty dismal small pens the calves were kept in many years ago as a farm kid, we never raised veal.

crustyo44 wrote:Sundodger,
Have you checked out how to age beef on the UMAi forum, in their bags, age in your fridge or check YouTube.
Cheers,
Jan.

Not to be contrary, but calling beef kept in a fridge in a bag aged is a real mis conception. Don't want to start an argument here so I'll just say aged or dry aged beef can only be done one way, with large primal cuts in environmentally, both temp and humidity controlled environments, the loss factor is quite high due to moisture loss and the trimming necessary. What your doing by putting beef in a fridge in a bag for along time is just making it old, not aging it.

Wet Aging

To successfully wet age meat, no blood can be left to come into contact with the meat.
Export abattoirs use pads in the bag to soak up blood, prolonging the life of the meat dramatically.
The cooling tunnels used in these abattoirs ensures that the boned and sealed meat is brought to a safe temperature very quickly, again ensuring product longevity.

As the meat ages in the tightly sealed bag, the breakdown occurs anaerobically – without oxygen.
The enzymes naturally occurring in the meat begin to break down collagen and other proteins to soften the meat.
If there is too much blood, however, this causes spoilage and off flavours, as the blood deteriorates in the presence of oxygen.

http://www.vicsmeat.com.au/products/beef_main.html

You can find examples of poorly raised food animals in every country - and you can also find examples of properly raised, humane practices.

The anti-veal lobby in the US found and took great advantage of some poor farming practices that put many veal farmers right out of the business.

Instead of raising and selling the calf from a milk cow as veal, these farmers simply slaughtered them at birth and turned over the carcasses to the pet food industry.

Travesty

I think the veal being offered for sale in the UK has been reared for a few months rather than slaughtering them straight away. Some farmers are actually marketing them as Rose veal and commanding a decent price for the product. I suppose it can be an emotive subject but the public still buy 'Easter lamb' or Suckling pigs without giving it another thought. I'm just glad that they are not being wasted and ending up in pet food or even worse, incinerated !

My butcher friend is still in denial though. Called at his stall this afternoon and he had a sign up saying 'Rib of beef joints -bone in, £7.00 each. Yep, you guessed it, Fore rib of Veal containing four rib bones. Asked him to pop one on the scale and it was just short of 5 lbs (2.25 kilo). I was going to cut it into 4 chops but then realised that they would be approx 20 oz each, a bit big even for me, but for £1.75 a chop I think I'll cook them one at a time and share it with the other half. I'm sure he'd get a better price cutting them into steak/chops and selling them as Veal but then again its his decision I suppose.