Veal Loaf
Three pounds raw veal chopped fine, three eggs, two tablespoons milk or cream, butter the size of an egg, two slices raw pork chopped very fine; mix all together, one teaspoon pepper, one teaspoon sage, one tablespoon salt, bread crumbs to be put on top, form into a loaf between two and three inches thick, bake two and one-half hours. Baste with butter and water while baking.
A plain forcemeat loaf of the sort meant to be baked, cooled, and sliced cold for the supper table. The original assumes a coal range and gives no temperature, so the two things worth fixing are the heat and the time.
- Oven temperatureNone is given. A loaf like this belongs in a moderate oven, 325-350F. Higher and the exterior sets hard before the center is done.
- Time is far too longTime -- Two and a half hours suits a slow coal range but is longer than a modern oven needs, and risks a dry, crumbly loaf. Cook to an internal temperature of 160F at the center, which in a loaf two to three inches thick takes roughly 1 to 1 1/4 hours at 350F.
- Butter the size of an eggAbout 2 oz, or 4 tablespoons. Nineteenth-century books measured fat by comparison to eggs and walnuts constantly.
- Two slices raw pork'Raw' suggests fresh pork rather than cured bacon, most likely fatty side or fatback, supplying fat to very lean veal. Substitute roughly 4 oz of fatty ground pork or ground pork shoulder if you cannot get fresh side.
- Chopped fineGround veal from the butcher does the work of the chopping bowl. Ask for a coarse grind if you want the loaf to slice with some texture rather than reading like pate.
- Salt and sageA tablespoon of salt in 3 lb of meat is about 1.3 percent by weight, which is in line with modern practice, not excessive. A full teaspoon of dried sage is assertive; start with half if you are unsure.
- BastingButter and water spooned over the top keeps the crumb coating from scorching. A covered pan for the first half of the baking does the same job with less attention.
- Yield and servingEight to ten portions. Chill it thoroughly in the pan before slicing; warm veal loaf falls apart, cold veal loaf cuts clean.
Veal loaf was made to be eaten cold. In households without reliable refrigeration, a heavily seasoned loaf of chopped meat bound with egg would keep a day or two in a cool larder and could be sliced for a light evening meal, sandwiches, or a Sunday supper when no cooking was wanted. The technique descends from older European forcemeats and potted meats, and the pairing of lean veal with fresh pork fat is standard charcuterie logic arrived at by kitchen experience rather than theory. Sage as the dominant seasoning is generally taken to mark it as an English-American recipe. Veal was cheap and common in American markets of the period in a way it is not now, which is why a three-pound cut appears here as an everyday supper dish.