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Veal, Cushion of, Braised, Superior
The cushion of veal, or the noix, as it is called in French cookery-books, is simply that part of the leg which is covered by the udder. It should be separated from the under part of the fillet with a sharp knife, and the udder should be left whole, closely adhering to the cushion in its original position. The sinewy parts may be cut away. Take the cushion thus prepared, and lard the fleshy portion evenly and neatly with strips of fat bacon. Butter a braising-pan, and cover the bottom with a layer of sliced vegetables (onions, carrots, celery, and herbs), put in the larded veal and any bones and trimmings of meat that may be at hand, pour in as much stock as will just reach the surface of the veal, and braise it very gently over a slow fire. Butter a round of paper to fit the stewpan, lay this over the meat, put the lid over all. Every now and then the paper must be lifted and the meat basted with the gravy. Stew very gently indeed till the veal is tender. Remove the lid and the paper, and put the stewpan into the oven to brown the veal. Still baste it occasionally. The gravy should now be considerably reduced, and very thick. If it is, put the meat on a dish, and strain the gravy over it. If it is not, boil it quickly in a sauce-pan with the lid off until it becomes so. The fat must, of course, be removed from it. Garnish the dish with a mixture of dressed vegetables, and send sorrel to table with it. The sorrel may be prepared as follows. Wash and pick the stalks from three pounds of fresh sorrel. Boil for fifteen minutes in a quart of water salted, then drain, and chop small. When sorrel is not obtainable spinach will do. Melt an ounce and a half of butter, mix with it one ounce of flour. When smooth add a gill of broth and the sorrel. Stir over the fire for a few minutes, add another gill of broth, and stir again for twenty minutes. Mix three eggs with half a gill of milk, pour this into the sorrel, and stir over the fire for five minutes. If liked, the veal can be laid upon the sorrel in the dish. Time to braise the veal, about three hours. Probable cost, 1s. per pound.
A classic braise built on a cut that no longer exists as described. The technique translates cleanly; the butchery and the sorrel sauce need the most attention.
- The cutThe cushion, or noix, is the top round of the leg — the inner muscle above the knee. Ask a butcher for a veal top round roast of 3-4 lb, or substitute a boneless pork loin or turkey breast if veal is not available. The "udder" left attached is not something any modern supplier will sell; ignore that instruction entirely.
- LardingThreading strips of fat bacon through the meat with a larding needle is what keeps lean veal from drying over three hours. Without a needle, bard instead: tie sheets of pork fatback or unsmoked streaky bacon over the surface with kitchen string.
- Braising heat"Very gently indeed" means barely trembling liquid, not a simmer. The book does this over a slow fire on the stovetop; if a burner is hard to hold that low, a low oven of around 300F with the lid on is an easier way to keep it there. The stock reaches only to the surface of the meat, not over it — this is a braise, not a boil.
- The buttered paperA cartouche: a round of parchment cut to the pan's diameter, buttered side down on the meat. It stops the exposed top from drying while allowing the liquid beneath to reduce. Parchment now, not greaseproof paper.
- Browning at the endLid and paper off, oven up to 425F for the last 20-30 minutes, basting every few minutes. The meat colours and the glaze sets on the surface.
- Timing and donenessThree hours is right for a piece of this size. Go by the book's own test — stew until tender — and stop there, since pushing lean top round beyond that will only make it stringy.
- A gillIn a British book of this date, a quarter of an imperial pint: 5 fl oz, about 150 ml. The sorrel sauce therefore takes about 150 ml of broth, then another 150 ml, and half a gill (about 75 ml) of milk with the eggs.
- The sorrelThree pounds of sorrel cooks down to very little — it collapses more than spinach. Fifteen minutes of boiling is far longer than needed; sorrel goes khaki and mushy within two or three minutes of hitting water. Blanch briefly, drain hard, and chop. Spinach, as the book allows, needs the same brief treatment.
- The egg liaisonThree eggs beaten with milk stirred straight into hot sauce will curdle unless the heat is very low. Temper them with a ladle of the hot sorrel first, then return everything to the pan off direct heat and stir until it thickens. It should not boil.
- YieldA 3-4 lb roast serves six to eight with the sorrel and dressed vegetables.
The noix de veau was one of the prestige cuts of nineteenth-century French service, and Cassell's flags it as "superior." The attached udder — tétine in French butchery — has largely vanished from English and American markets over the twentieth century as offal and glandular cuts fell out of favour. The pairing with sorrel is older than the recipe and thoroughly French: the acid of the leaf cuts the richness of a fat-larded braise the way lemon or gooseberry does elsewhere in the same tradition. Sorrel was a common kitchen-garden crop in Britain well into the Victorian period, and the book offers spinach only as a fallback rather than the default; the ranking has since reversed entirely.