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Rice and Veal Cutlets
Take equal parts of cold veal, and of rice boiled in milk till it is tender. Pound the ingredients in a mortar, first separately, and afterwards together, season the mixture with pepper and salt, and a very small portion of grated nutmeg, and bind it together with yolk of egg. Form it into the shape of small cutlets, brush these over with yolk of egg, and fry in hot fat. Serve with piquant sauce, and send stewed mushrooms to table on a separate dish. Time to fry, till lightly browned on both sides. Probable cost of veal, about 1s. 2d. per pound. Sufficient, half a dozen small cutlets for three persons.
A Victorian way of using up cold roast veal: essentially a croquette shaped like a cutlet. The mixture must be dry and stiff or the cutlets slump in the pan.
- The hinge: a stiff mixtureRice boiled in milk holds a lot of moisture, and a wet paste will spread and break up in hot fat. Cook the rice until soft, then let it cool and dry out; the pounded mixture should hold a shape without sagging before you add any egg.
- Mortar or processorA food processor does the pounding in seconds, but pulse rather than run it — veal reduces to paste quickly and rice turns gluey. Pound the meat separately first, as the recipe says, then combine briefly.
- BindingThe recipe gives no quantity: one yolk will bind something in the region of three-quarters of a pound of mixture, so add it a little at a time. If the mixture is still loose, chill it for half an hour rather than adding more egg.
- Egg wash and no crumbThe recipe brushes with yolk only, with no breadcrumb coat, which gives a thin glazed surface rather than a crust. A crumb coating after the egg wash is closer to modern croquette practice and holds together better.
- FryingShallow-fry in about half an inch of fat at 350–360F, three to four minutes a side. Everything in the mixture is already cooked, so the aim is colour and a set exterior only.
- Nutmeg and seasoning"A very small portion of grated nutmeg" means no more than a scant pinch for the whole mixture. Season the mixture generously with salt, since cold veal and boiled rice are both bland.
- Piquant sauceIn Victorian usage this is a brown sauce sharpened with vinegar, shallots and gherkins or capers. A sharp mustard-and-caper gravy, or simply a well-reduced pan sauce with a spoon of vinegar, serves the same purpose.
- YieldThe book gives no weights, only equal parts of veal and rice; it counts half a dozen small cutlets as three servings, which is about right with the mushrooms and a vegetable alongside.
The format of this entry -- time, probable cost, sufficient for -- places it among the frugal made-over dishes of the late-Victorian middle-class kitchen, where cold joints were expected to reappear at table. Rice boiled in milk here does the work that mashed potato or panada does in a modern croquette, and moulding the mixture into cutlet shapes let the cook present leftovers with the outline of a fresh cut of meat -- a habit seen also in "mock" cutlets of fish, lentils and rice. The price note of about 1s. 2d. a pound for veal is a reminder that this was one of the dearer meats, which is exactly why the cold remains were treated so carefully. Nutmeg with veal is an old English pairing, inherited from the more heavily spiced forcemeats of the eighteenth century, by this date reduced to the merest suggestion.