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Veal Cutlets Broiled
Broil them on a moderate fire, basting them with butter often, and turning frequently. Serve with tomato sauce.
A two-line instruction that assumes you know what a veal cutlet is and how thick it should be. The gaps are worth filling.
- What "cutlet" meantIn American books of this period a veal cutlet is generally a slice off the leg or loin, commonly around half an inch thick, rather than the paper-thin scaloppine sold under the same name today. Cut much thinner and it will tend to overcook before it colours.
- "A moderate fire"This is a coal or wood grate at steady, settled heat rather than flaring flame; a medium grill is the nearest modern equivalent. Veal has little intramuscular fat and scorches quickly over a hot bed.
- Basting with butterThe butter is not seasoning, it is insurance against a lean cut drying out. Use clarified butter or melted butter brushed on between turns; whole butter dripping into the fire will smoke and blacken the surface.
- Turning frequentlyModern grilling advice about leaving meat alone does not apply here. Frequent turning keeps the surface temperature even on a thin, lean cut and is exactly right.
- Timing and donenessThe recipe gives none. Half-inch cutlets take roughly 3-4 minutes a side; cook to about 145F internal and rest briefly. Veal cooked to the grey stage of older practice is tough and dry.
- The tomato saucePeriod tomato sauces for meat were typically reduced and sieved purees, often finished with butter and sometimes thickened with a little roux -- closer to a light sauce than to Italian pasta sauce. Season it well; the cutlet itself is mild.
- YieldFigure one 6-8 oz cutlet per person, or two smaller ones.
Veal was a widely used meat in this period, and cookbooks of the era carry pages of veal preparations that have since largely dropped out of home cooking. The pairing with tomato sauce is worth noting: tomato sauce had become an ordinary accompaniment to meat by the later nineteenth century, ordinary enough that a compiler could name it in three words and assume the reader had a recipe elsewhere in the book.