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Veal Cutlets, Bread-Crumbed and Broiled
Divide the best end of a neck of veal into cutlets. Saw off the chine-bone, shorten the rib-bones, trim the cutlets neatly, and flatten them. Sprinkle a little pepper and slat upon them. Brush them over first with clarified butter or oil, then with beaten egg; dip them in bread-crumbs, once more into oil, and then into the bread-crumbs again. Broil over a clear fire of a moderate heat, and turn them that they may be equally cooked on both sides. When they are brightly browned take them up, arrange them on a dish alternately with rashers of ham or bacon, and send good gravy, or tomato, or any piquant sauce to table with them. Time to broil the cutlets, ten to fifteen minutes, according to size. Probable cost, 1s. to 1s. 2d. per pound.
A straightforward broiled cutlet whose success depends almost entirely on the double breading and a steady, moderate heat. The original assumes a butcher who will break down a neck for you and a coal grill you can hold your hand over.
- The cut"Best end of neck" is the rib section, sold today as veal rib chops; ask for them cut about 3/4 in. thick, chine removed and rib bones frenched. Loin chops behave the same way if rib is not available.},{"label":"Flatten with care","text":"Veal rib is tender and needs only light pressure with the flat of a cleaver or a rolling pin to even out the thickness. Pounding it thin will make it cook through before the crumbs colour.
- The double coating is the pointButter or oil, egg, crumbs, oil again, crumbs again gives a crust thick enough to survive direct heat without burning. Do not substitute a single dip; the coating is what keeps the lean meat from drying.
- Clarified butterCalled for because the milk solids in whole butter blacken over live fire. Clarified butter or a neutral oil both work; ghee is the ready-made equivalent.
- "A clear fire of a moderate heat"Coals burned down to grey ash with no flame — roughly medium on a gas grill, or a heavy ridged pan over medium heat. High heat scorches the crumbs long before the centre is done.
- Timing and donenessTen to fifteen minutes suits bone-in chops of this thickness, and the original allows for variation "according to size." Modern practice takes veal chops to 145F at the centre with a three-minute rest, which leaves them faintly pink.
- SaltThe original's "slat" is a typesetter's slip for salt. Season before the coating goes on, since nothing will reach the meat afterwards.
- Yield and serviceService -- The ham or bacon rashers are laid between the cutlets on the dish, so cook them separately; the gravy or tomato sauce is sent to table alongside rather than poured over, which would soften the crust.
This is a plain broiled cutlet of the sort common in English cookery books of the period. Double crumbing is also found in Continental cutlet cookery, though the recipe makes no claim of descent and the Viennese method uses a single coating. The quoted price of a shilling to 1s. 2d. a pound places veal above the commoner butcher's meats of the day. The recipe leaves the butchery to the kitchen -- sawing the chine-bone and shortening the ribs -- work now generally done at the shop.