Dear William,

The Osso Bucco recipe is very good, but try adding a stick of celery at the beginning, and some white wine as well as, or instead of, the stock. My better half, Dot, does the best Osso Buco I know (no restaurant matches it), and those two ingredients are her secret.

The quality of the veal is also important. Don't go for the very white stuff normally sold - it's usually crated veal (i.e. calves kept for their lives in boxes and fed only fluids - horrible). Make sure the veal has been bred free-range. Not quite so tender (though by no means tough) but with much more taste.

Yours,

Antony