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Meat Glaze, in a Hurry
Glaze is an extract of meat, which, when condensed by boiling, becomes the thick varnish so useful to the cook for giving an inviting appearance to a hot or cold joint, poultry, or vegetables. Boil down a strong stock or gravy until it seems thickish as it drops from the spoon with which it is being stirred, and becomes a firm jelly when cold. Veal being more gelatinous than other meat, produces the best glaze. To make glaze in a hurry, if no stock be at hand, slice a quarter of a pound of veal as thinly as possible, and fry it over a slow fire in a small pan with a bit of butter; draw the stewpan from the fire, and stir in a very small cup of water; add pepper and salt, and again stir it until it has boiled thick; then strain it into a pot and use, laying it on with a brush. When more than one coat is required, dry before putting on another.
This is glace de viande in miniature: a strong veal extract reduced until it sets like rubbery jelly. The scaled-down version here produces only a spoonful or two, which is all a brush-coat of glaze actually requires.
- The hinge: salt last, or not at allEverything in the pan concentrates as the liquid reduces, salt most obviously. Season at the very end, after the glaze has thickened, or the finished varnish will be inedible on the joint it is meant to flatter.
- "A very small cup of water"Genuinely imprecise, and the recipe assumes you will judge by eye. A couple of fluid ounces is probably the sense of it, but the text gives no way to be sure; the volume matters far less than reducing whatever you add until it coats the spoon heavily.
- Why vealVeal bones and connective tissue are rich in collagen, which converts to gelatin and gives the glaze its setting power and glossy cling. Sliced veal shoulder or breast works; a lean cutlet gives flavour but a slacker set. Adding a knuckle or a little gelatinous stock compensates.
- "Slow fire"Low to medium-low. The point is to sweat the juices out of the meat without browning it hard — scorched fond turns the glaze bitter and dulls the colour from amber to muddy brown.
- Judging the finishStop when the liquid falls from the spoon in a thick, slow ribbon and leaves a clear trail on the pan bottom. It should be pourable while hot; the "firm jelly when cold" test is what confirms you went far enough. Overshoot and it turns to a tacky, salty toffee.
- Yield and coverageA quarter-pound of veal gives very little glaze, likely no more than a spoonful or two -- enough for a thin brush-coat on a bird or a small joint. For a large roast or a cold buffet, scale up or use the full stock-reduction method described in the first half.
- Applying itWarm the glaze to a brushable consistency, apply thinly, and let each coat set and lose its shine before the next. Two or three thin coats give a deeper gloss than one thick one, which tends to slide.
- Keeping itOnce set it is a concentrated, low-water jelly and keeps a week or so covered in the refrigerator. For longer, freeze it in an ice-cube tray — a single cube dissolved in hot water is a serviceable instant stock.
Glaze is the English kitchen's name for glace de viande, the last stage of the French stockpot: stock reduced until it sets to a firm, dark, faintly sticky block. In a nineteenth-century professional kitchen it was a by-product of continuous stock-making and cost nothing but fuel, and it did double duty — brushed on cold hams, galantines and roast poultry for the shine that made a buffet look expensive, and dropped by the spoonful into sauces to give body and depth. The presence of a "in a hurry" version is telling: it points to households that wanted the effect without keeping a stockpot simmering day and night. The preference for veal is sound and long-standing, veal being the standard base for white stocks precisely because of its collagen and its neutral flavour.