You've heard of ossobucco right? A decidedly decadent dish of veal shank that has been braised in wine and stock. There are many different recipes for ossobucco, traditional recipes typically have a gremolata and use bay leaves, more modern versions use tomatoes, carrots, celery and onion.

My personal preference is for a more traditional ossobucco, and one of my favorite recipes is one by Mark Bittman, who sneakily includes the recipe in his book, Quick and Easy Recipes from the New York Times. The joke is that there is no way you're going to develop that fork tender perfection in 30 minutes!

I often make this prepare this recipe using bone-in veal shoulder <pictured> and finishing my sauce with a little bit of butter, it adds the richness I am missing because I am not using the shank. Then, recently, I passed a counter with pork shank. It was very inexpensive and that's when the light bulb went off in my head. I was going to make my cheap-o-bucco, even cheap-o-er!

I didn't really alter the recipe much, except to replace the veal shank for pork shank. I have also read of people replacing the veal with turkey, so it just goes to show you how well braising can be adapted to suit many different meats.

The New York Times, simply exchange the veal shanks for pork shanks and follow the process as is!