Home › The Principles of Cookery › Veal, Cushion of, Braised
Veal, Cushion of, Braised
Prepare the veal as in the next recipe, then, instead of larding it, make deep incisions in the fleshy portion of it, and fill these alternately with pieces of truffle or tongue. Cover the cushion with thin slices of fat bacon, and braise the veal according to the instructions already given. Serve with rich white sauce. Time to braise the veal, about three hours. Probable cost, veal, 1s. per pound. Sufficient for eight or ten persons.
A barded and studded braise of a whole veal leg cut, written for a cook who already knows the house method for braising. The gaps in the instructions are deliberate cross-references, so a few things need filling in.
- What a cushion isThe cushion is generally the inside (top) round of the veal leg, taken off in one rounded lump. A butcher may need to be asked for it by that name or as a whole veal top round; a joint of this kind would typically run to several pounds, consistent with the stated eight to ten servings.
- The cross-reference"Prepare the veal as in the next recipe" points to a preparation the text does not repeat here; from the wording, the neighbouring recipe larded the joint, which this one replaces with studding. The braising instructions "already given" are likewise a separate entry, so the aromatic bed, the depth of stock and the covered pan have to be taken from the book's general braising method rather than from this page.
- Oven heatNo temperature is given here. If braising in a modern oven, a low setting of roughly 300-325F will hold the liquid barely trembling; a hard simmer will squeeze the veal dry long before three hours are up.
- Fat baconThe covering is barding fat, not breakfast bacon. Use unsmoked fatback or fresh pork back fat sliced thin, or unsmoked salt pork; modern smoked streaky will flavour the white sauce and fight the truffle.
- Truffle and tongueCut deep incisions with a thin knife and push in batons of each alternately; the joint is easier to work when cold and firm. Tongue here means cooked salted ox tongue. The truffle may be fresh or preserved, as period kitchens used both; if substituting, use a small amount of preserved truffle rather than truffle oil, whose aroma does not survive a long braise.
- Doneness rather than clockThree hours is the stated time, but veal round is lean and goes stringy if pushed; check from about two and a half hours and take it out when a skewer meets no resistance.
- The rich white sauceThe "rich white sauce" is one of the book's own sauce entries rather than anything specified on this page. A practical modern route is to strain and degrease the braising liquor, reduce it, and use it to finish a white roux-based sauce with cream; either way there is no reason to throw the pan liquid away.
- Cost and carving"1s. per pound" is the 19th-century retail price and has no modern equivalent worth converting. Rest the joint 20 minutes, remove the strings and bard, and carve across the grain so each slice shows the mosaic of truffle and tongue.
Braising a cushion of veal with the flesh studded in a pattern belongs to the Anglo-French repertoire that Cassell's was written to codify for middle-class households with a cook. The technique is a variant of larding: where larding threads strips of fat through lean meat with a needle, this method cuts deeper pockets and fills them with contrasting colour, so that the carved slices show dark truffle and pink tongue against pale veal. It is display cookery in a modest register, aiming at the effect of a French kitchen without its staff. Veal itself held a higher place on Victorian tables than it does now, valued for its blandness and its gelatinous braising liquor, and the whole leg cuts were priced accordingly.