Ossobuco

At our local butcher's (Salem's) they had veal shoulder for $4 a lb. (3-4 lb shoulder) so I had one cross-cut for me, and decided to make an Ossobuco-like dish in my slow cooker.  I did feel a bit bad about getting veal, but as I have a confidence that the small local farms they are sourcing from treat the animals with respect, I decided to go for it.  (Here's a great article on them).

I wanted to do somethign quick and one-step, so I skipped gremolata in favor of incorporating garlic an parsley into the dish, and I was out of white wine.  here is what went into the slow cooker:

• 4lbs. of cross cut veal; dredge in flour and lightly browned in a hot pan with olive oil
• 2 red onions, 9 med. carrots, 10 garlic, 7 celery; all cut this and sauted in the pan next with some parsley, salt, and black pepper
• 1 small can of tomato paste and a box of beef broth (~4 cups) used to deglaze the pan

I left this overnight in the fridge, then started the slow cooker before work (8:30am).  My nice Hamilton Beach model has a probe, which I stuck int he liquid, and told the machine to switch from "low" to "warm" at 170F.  By the time my husband checked it at 4:30pm, it was on "warm" but had risen another 20 degrees to 190F.

He turned it off and let it sit till I got home, so it would not get hotter.  ((If you do not have a slow cooker with probe control, I would suggest making this on a day when you can be home and monitor it, or else just put it on "warm" to start.  Slow cookers always run too hot, and if meat gets to boiling, it really suffers.))

This veal is hands-down THE most tender beef I have ever had, including restaurants.  I would call the texture perfect for a braise.

The flavor, while good, had 3 flaws:

1. It lacked acid (I wish I'd had that wine!)
2. The broth was too dilute/watery
3. The celery flavor was overpowering compared to the garlic and parsley

So next time I am going to use 2 cups beef broth instead of 4, along with 1 cup white wine.  I am going to use only 3 stalks of celery, down from 7, and lastly I am going to saute garlic and lemon peel and fresh parsley after the other vegetables, but before de-glazing, and then leave it in the fridge until i come one, to be mixed in right before eating.

Sadly, with the amount of leftovers, my quest for perfectly ossobuco must wait a while.  In the meantime I am going to try and fix the acidity by adding some lemon juice the next time I eat it.

Thoughts?