Home › The Principles of Cookery › Veal, Chump of, Stewed
Veal, Chump of, Stewed
Take the chump end of a loin of veal. Bone it, and tie it in shape with tape. The butcher will bone it if desired. Put it into a stewpan, and pour half a pint of veal stock upon it. Boil this quickly till it begins to thicken, draw it back, and let it acquire a little colour; then pour over it a quart of nicely-flavoured stock and a glassful of light wine, and let it simmer very gently till the meat is tender. A quarter of an hour before it is to be served take it up, drain it, and put it in the oven. Strain the liquor, boil quickly till it is reduced to half glaze, then baste the meat with it until it looks bright and glossy. Put it on a dish, and garnish with glazed carrots, or onions, or with boiled cauliflowers. Tomatoes, mushrooms, or any kind of dressed vegetables may be served with this dish, and brown sauce, Italian sauce, bechamel, tomato sauce, etc., may be sent to table with it. Time to simmer the veal, an hour and a half, or rather more. Probable cost, 10d. per pound.
A Victorian braise-and-glaze: the meat is cooked gently in stock, then the cooking liquor is reduced to a syrupy glaze and painted back on. The glazing is the whole point of the dish, and most of the technique is in the first two sentences of cooking.
- The hinge: never let it boilAfter the initial reduction, the liquid should barely shiver — around 160-180F, with an occasional bubble. Veal loin is lean and a rolling boil in ninety minutes will leave it stringy and dry.
- The chump endThis is the rear of the loin, next to the leg — what a modern butcher will call the sirloin end. Ask for it boned and rolled, or use a boneless veal sirloin roast of about 3 lb. Tie with kitchen string, not tape.
- Imperial measuresCassell's is British, so the pint is 20 fl oz: half a pint is about 1¼ cups, a quart about 5 cups. A "glassful" is imprecise; the wineglassful of Victorian cookery books was usually reckoned at roughly 2 fl oz, though glasses varied.
- That first reductionBoiling the small quantity of stock down until it thickens and colours leaves a concentrated fond on the pan bottom, which browns and gives the finished glaze its depth. Watch it closely; the difference between coloured and burnt is under a minute.
- Half glazeDemi-glace — the strained liquor boiled down until it coats a spoon and is distinctly sticky. From 5 cups of stock expect to finish with roughly a cup. Skim the fat off before reducing or the glaze will not shine.
- Holding in the ovenThe quarter hour in the oven keeps the joint hot while the liquor is reduced, and dries the surface so the glaze clings. A low oven, uncovered, and baste in several thin coats rather than one thick one; the book gives no temperature.
- DonenessGo by feel and temperature rather than the clock: a boned loin end is ready at about 145-150F at the centre. Ninety minutes suits a large joint; a 3 lb roll may be done in an hour.
- YieldA 3 lb boned roast serves six, with the vegetable garnish. The strained, unreduced liquor makes an excellent base for the accompanying sauce if you would rather not reduce all of it to glaze.
Cassell's belongs to the era when English kitchens of any pretension cooked to a French template, and this entry is a plain description of a braisé glacé — meat cooked in stock, the stock reduced to glaze, the joint burnished with it before serving. The long list of possible accompaniments (brown sauce, Italian sauce, béchamel, tomato) is characteristic of these dictionary-style books: the entry gives a method and leaves the household to assemble a dish from whatever else the kitchen has going. Veal was far more common on the Victorian middle-class table than it is in Britain now, and Cassell's gives a "probable cost" for nearly every entry, its readers being households managing a budget. Braising softens the joint and the glaze supplies the gloss that a roast would have got from the fire.