Food for thought

Osso Bucco. That's what it said on the label of the meat I pulled from the freezer. I had a vague idea it should be cooked slowly as it was from the shin with a lump of marrow bone in the middle. (Osso bucco = bone marrow.)

The obvious thing is to look up a recipe on the internet but then my eyes will glaze over with a zillion recipe options. So my next choice is to turn to  my old faithful Margaret Fulton Recipe book (1968 edition) - which taught me so much when I was first married, although not enough to know that sardines on a pizza were not the same thing as anchovies. Oop! Hadn't ever heard of anchovies in 1971.
So I looked up the index in the beef section. No osso bucco. I'm sure I remembered seeing it here years ago.
A moment of inspiration and I head to the International  section which includes Chicken Chow Mien, sweet and sour pork, pizza (yes, with anchovies), Swiss cheese fondue and amongst 'Dishes from the Great Pacific' - pavlova. How exotic can you get!
And there I found it Osso Bucco (hollowbone) Milanese. No worries. Although on the same page was a recipe for Lobster Newburg which suggested I need two small lobsters. Sure!
What really indicated how things have changed was when the recipe suggested serving the Osso Bucco with Saffron rice. No problems there until I came to the helpful suggestion as to how to reheat rice -  simmer over water in a colander or in the oven with some milk and butter. No just bunging it in the microwave in those days.
Then I looked more closely at the Osso Bucco recipe. It lists two anchovy fillets, chopped. Yep, I can do that. Got some in the pantry ready to go.
How times change...