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Braised Shoulder of Veal
Have the bones removed from five pounds of the shoulder of veal (reserve bones). Stuff with bread stuffing, truss in shape and follow directions for Braised Beef (see Page 139). Add two sprays of thyme and marjoram. Serve with
A cross-referenced recipe: the actual cooking method lives under Braised Beef, and this page only tells you how to prepare the shoulder for it. The essentials of that method, and the gaps this page leaves, are worth spelling out.
- The method it points toThe cooking directions are not on this page; they sit under Braised Beef, which is not reproduced here. A braise of this period would generally mean browning the trussed, stuffed shoulder in fat, then cooking it covered over a bed of vegetables and herbs with liquid part way up, in a moderate to slow oven. The liquid should never boil hard; a bare tremble for several hours gives sliceable meat rather than shreds.
- Ask the butcherVeal shoulder is often sold already boned and rolled. Ask for the shoulder bones anyway, as the recipe directs you to reserve them; they are gelatin-rich and make the braising liquid worth serving.
- Stuffing quantityFive pounds of boned shoulder takes roughly 3 to 4 cups of loose bread stuffing. Pack it lightly. Stuffing forced into the cavity swells and splits the trussing, and dense stuffing inside a long braise stays wet.
- TrussingButcher's twine at one-inch intervals, not a single loop. Veal shoulder is a loose assembly of muscles and will open up during the first hour unless it is tied along its whole length.
- Sprays of thyme and marjoramA "spray" is a sprig. Two sprigs of each is right for fresh herbs; if using dried, about half a teaspoon of each, added to the vegetable bed rather than the stuffing.
- DonenessCook to tenderness, not to a number, though stuffed veal should reach at least 165F at the centre of the stuffing. A skewer should meet no resistance in the thickest part of the meat.
- The sentence that stopsThe text as transcribed breaks off at "Serve with", so the intended accompaniment is missing. A plausible finish would be the strained braising liquid, skimmed and reduced, poured over the sliced meat, with a vegetable alongside.
- YieldFive pounds bone-in shoulder, boned and stuffed, serves eight generously. Let it rest fifteen minutes before the twine comes off or the stuffing will spill.
52 Sunday Dinners belongs to a genre of early twentieth-century American cookbooks built around the calendar: one complete menu per week, arranged so that a household could cook through the year without deciding anything. That structure explains the terseness here — the method sits under Braised Beef on page 139, and the veal entry only records what makes it different. Veal shoulder was a cook's cut in this period, cheap because it is sinewy and awkwardly boned, and braising is the technique that rewards exactly those qualities: long moist heat converts the connective tissue to gelatin while the aromatic vegetable bed underneath does the seasoning. The stuffing serves a second purpose beyond flavour, filling the cavity left by the bones so the joint carves in neat rounds.