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Veal, Cold, to Ragout
Cut the white part of the cold veal into small round cutlets about the third of an inch thick, and free them from skin and gristle. Break up the bones of the veal, and with them, the skin and trimmings of the meat, and any flavouring ingredients that may be chosen, make a little good gravy. Strain this, and thicken it with a small piece of brown roux, or with a small slice of butter. Season the gravy rather highly with pepper, mace or nutmeg, and anchovy, or mushroom-powder. Flour the slices of veal, and fry them in hot fat till they are lightly browned. Drain them, put them on a dish, pour the gravy over, and serve very hot. Time, an hour or more to make the gravy.
A leftover dish from the era when a roast joint was expected to reappear twice more. The whole point is that the bones and trimmings make the sauce, so do not discard them before you start.
- Start the gravy firstThe stock needs an hour or more at a bare simmer, and the veal is only fried at the last minute. Get the bones, skin and trimmings into a pan with water to cover, an onion, a bay leaf and a few peppercorns before you do anything else.
- Brown rouxEqual weights of butter and flour cooked together until nut-brown; allow at least 5-8 minutes over medium heat, longer for a darker colour. For the quantity here, a tablespoon of each will thicken about a cup of stock. The alternative given, a slice of butter, will give considerably less body than a roux.
- Mushroom-powderDried mushrooms ground to dust in a spice grinder. It was a standard Victorian store-cupboard seasoning, and half a teaspoon gives the savoury depth the recipe is after.
- AnchovyThe book does not say in what form; bottled anchovy essence or anchovy sauce were the usual Victorian options. One or two anchovy fillets mashed into the hot gravy, or a teaspoon of fish sauce, does the same job. Add it near the end and taste before salting, since both are already salty.
- MaceThe lacy outer covering of nutmeg, milder and more floral. Ground mace is still sold; a pinch is enough, and grated nutmeg substitutes directly.
- Cutting the vealA third of an inch is about 8 mm. Cold roast veal slices far more cleanly than warm, so work straight from the refrigerator and use a long thin blade.
- Frying already-cooked meatThe veal is cooked through; the pan is only there for colour. Flour it lightly, use hot fat, and give it a minute or so a side. Longer dries it to string.
- YieldA pound of cold veal cut this way serves three to four with potatoes or rice. Have the plates hot, as flour-thickened gravy sets quickly on a cold dish.
Cassell's belongs to the great age of the re-served joint, when a household that had roasted a fillet or loin of veal on Sunday was expected to turn out something presentable from it on Monday and Tuesday. Veal was more common on British tables then than now, and its blandness made it a natural vehicle for the assertive seasonings this recipe piles on: mace, anchovy, mushroom powder. That trio was often reached for as a Victorian answer to insipid meat, and the anchovy in particular descends from a long English habit, generally traced back through the eighteenth century, of using salted fish as a background savour in sauces where no one would identify it as fish. The instruction to build the gravy from the bones and trimmings rather than the meat itself is the real lesson of the entry, which appears under the heading 'Veal, Cold, to Ragout'.