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Veal, Breast of, Collared
Bone the veal, remove the gristle and tendons, and to flatten it beat it gently with a rolling-pin. Spread upon it a little pepper, salt, and pounded mace, together with some parsley, thyme and marjoram, and two or three shallots, all finely chopped. Lay upon the herbs some thick slices of good ham, together with two calves' tongues, boiled, skinned, and sliced. Roll the veal tightly, and bind it with tape. Put it into a saucepan with as much stock or water as will cover it, and let it simmer gently till it is quite tender throughout. Take it up, and put it in press till cold. If liked, the flesh of two boiled pig's or calf's feet may be put upon the ham, and to improve the appearance of the veal some hard-boiled yolks of eggs and a little sliced beetroot may be interspersed with the seasoning. Time to simmer the veal, about four hours. Sufficient for a good-sized dish. Probable cost, 1s. per pound.
A cold pressed meat roll of the sort that once anchored a cold table or a picnic hamper. The technique is straightforward, but almost every component needs a word with the butcher before you start.
- The hinge: press it while hotThe roll sets because gelatin from the veal, tongue and trotters cools under pressure into a solid mass. Take it from the liquor and put it under weight immediately, still hot, and leave it until completely cold — several hours or overnight in the refrigerator. Cooling it loose first and pressing later will not bind the slices.
- Boning the breastA breast of veal is a rib section; ask for it boned and the gristly cartilage strip removed, or budget half an hour with a boning knife. Boned weight varies considerably; the recipe commits only to 'sufficient for a good-sized dish'.
- Calves' tonguesSpecial-order from a butcher; they are not a supermarket item. Each needs its own long simmer (2-3 hours) and peeling before it goes into the roll, so cook them a day ahead. Two ox tongues are far too much meat for one breast; if substituting, use about 1 lb of cooked, skinned, sliced tongue.
- The trotters are structuralThe optional pig's or calf's feet are what guarantee a firm set. Simmer them separately until the flesh slips off, then lay that flesh over the ham. Without them the roll will still hold, but more loosely.
- Pounded maceBlade mace, the lacy covering of nutmeg, ground in a mortar. Ground mace from a jar works; about a quarter teaspoon is enough for a breast, alongside a generous teaspoon of salt and plenty of pepper.
- TapeCotton tape is what Victorian recipes of this kind usually specify; it has the practical advantage of not cutting into the meat. Butcher's twine at 1-inch intervals does the job; wrap the roll in muslin first if you want a smooth surface.
- Simmer, do not boilFour hours is right for a breast of this size, but the liquid should barely tremble — around 180F. A rolling boil squeezes the roll, shrinks the veal and clouds the stock, which is worth saving as a jelly or soup base.
- Egg and beetrootThese are for the cut face, not the flavour. Line the hard-boiled yolks and beetroot slices in a row down the length of the roll so each slice shows the pattern. Beetroot will bleed pink into the surrounding meat.
- ServingSlice thin, cold, with mustard or a sharp pickle. It keeps a few days wrapped in the refrigerator. The 'probable cost, 1s. per pound' is the book's own price note.
Collaring is one of the older English preserving-adjacent techniques: a flat piece of meat or fish is seasoned, rolled into a cylinder, bound, cooked in liquid and pressed until it sets in its own gelatin, so that it can be sliced cold for days afterwards. Collared brawn, collared eel and collared beef all appear in English cookery books well before Cassell's. Veal was a natural candidate because its bland, gelatinous breast takes seasoning readily and sets firmly, and the breast was among the cheaper cuts of an animal whose loin and cutlets went to the dining room. Recipes of this kind belonged to the era of the cold sideboard, when a household expected to have something sliceable standing by for breakfast, luncheon or supper; the ham, tongue and coloured egg-and-beetroot inlay are there to make an economy cut look deliberate on the plate.