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VEAL CUTLETS (another way) (Soak the cutlets in oil)
Soak the cutlets in oil for an hour, and put into the oil a table-spoonful of lemon-juice, a bunch of parsley, a sprig of thyme, a bay-leaf, a small onion finely minced, and a little pepper and salt. Drain and dry them. Lay each cutlet on a sheet of white paper which has been well saturated with oil, cover with breadcrumbs, divide the fluid in which they have been soaked equally among the cutlets, and lay a slice of bacon upon each. Wrap the cutlets in stiff white paper, and fold the edges so that the juice cannot escape. Broil the cutlets some distance above a clear fire, and turn them that they may be equally cooked. Sometimes cutlets thus prepared are roasted before a gentle fire, instead of being broiled. Ravigote sauce, or good gravy, or a little lemon-juice, may be served with the cutlets, or they may be sent to table with their own sauce only. It is a good plan to interpose a piece of oiled paper between the paper envelope and the heated gridiron. Time to broil the cutlets, about twenty minutes. (See also CUTLETS, VEAL.)
This is veal en papillote in its original form: the cutlet sealed in oiled paper and cooked over coals, so nothing escapes but steam. The whole point is the seal, and everything else follows from it.
- The hinge: fold the paper tightAll the flavour of the marinade stays with the meat only if the edges are crimped closed. A loose parcel leaks oil onto the fire, flares, and scorches the paper before the veal is cooked.
- "Broil" means grill over coalsIn this book broiling is cooking on a gridiron above a clear fire, not the overhead element of a modern oven. Paper parcels under a modern broiler will char in minutes. Cook them over indirect coals on a covered grill, or take the recipe's own alternative of roasting before a gentle fire; the book states no temperature, so use a moderate oven and judge by doneness rather than by the stated twenty minutes.
- White paper means parchmentThe "stiff white paper" of the period was uncoated kitchen paper. Use baking parchment; do not use waxed paper, which melts, or newsprint or printed paper of any kind.
- Doneness, not clockTwenty minutes suits a cutlet around half an inch thick. Veal is safe at 145F with a three-minute rest; thicker cutlets, or a cooler fire, will need longer, and the parcel makes it hard to judge by eye. Open one to check rather than trusting the time.
- The marinadeAn hour in oil with lemon juice, parsley, thyme, bay, minced onion, pepper and salt. The quantity of oil is unstated: enough to coat the cutlets, perhaps a third of a cup for four. Divide any that remains among the parcels as instructed rather than discarding it, since it becomes the sauce.
- The baconPeriod bacon was often fattier and saltier than much modern supermarket bacon, though cures varied. Streaky bacon or pancetta gives the fat the lean veal needs; if using a thick modern cure, salt the marinade lightly.
- Ravigote sauceThe cold version is a vinaigrette sharpened with capers, shallot and herbs; the hot version is a velouté finished with herb butter and vinegar. Either suits, though the parcel juices alone, as the recipe allows, are the simplest finish.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield; one cutlet per person is the usual assumption, so scale the aromatics accordingly.
Cooking in paper is generally traced to French professional practice, and English cookery books took it up during the nineteenth century, sometimes under the name en papillote or, in more domestic books like this one, simply "in paper." It solved a real problem for cooks working over open fires and gridirons: lean meat such as veal dries out badly under direct heat, and the sealed paper traps the marinade and the fat rendering from the bacon so the cutlet effectively steams in its own seasoning. Cassell's was written for households that still cooked at a range with a gridiron and an open fire, which is why the entry bothers to mention interposing a second sheet of oiled paper between the parcel and the hot iron bars, and why it offers roasting before a gentle fire as an equivalent. The instinct that flavour should not be allowed to escape is neatly stated in this recipe.