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Veal, Fillet of, Boiled
Take a small and white fillet of veal for this purpose. Remove the bone, fill its space with good veal forcemeat, and bind the meat securely with tape. Put a few skewers at the bottom of the stewpan to keep the veal from sticking; lay it on these, and pour over it as much cold weak stock, milk and water, or even water only, as will barely cover it. Let it heat slowly and simmer very gently indeed until it is done enough. The more gently it is simmered the better it will be. Carefully remove the scum as it rises. When done enough, take the fillet up, put it on a hot dish, garnish with lemon, and send oyster, celery, or white sauce to table with it; or a sauce made by thickening a little of the stock in which it was boiled with white thickening, seasoning with salt, pepper, and mace, and flavouring with lemon-juice and sherry. A boiled tongue should accompany this dish, which if served alone is in danger of being considered insipid. Time to simmer a fillet of veal weighing six pounds, three hours. Probable cost, 1s. 1d. per pound. Sufficient for six persons.
A large stuffed joint poached rather than roasted, in the Victorian manner for keeping veal pale. The whole point is the barely-trembling liquid; anything approaching a real boil squeezes the lean meat dry and turns the forcemeat solid.
- The hinge: no boilingHold the liquid at 175-185F, where the surface only shivers. Veal fillet is very lean and a rolling boil will make it stringy and drive the juices into the stock.
- What "fillet of veal" meansNot the tenderloin. In British butchery this is the thick cut from the top of the hind leg, sold today as a boneless leg roast or veal top round. Ask for a 4-6 lb piece with the bone removed and a pocket left for stuffing.
- Tape and skewersTape is flat cotton binding; kitchen twine tied at 1-inch intervals does the same job. The skewers laid in the pan are a makeshift trivet, so use a rack or a folded bed of celery and onion to keep the joint off the hot base.
- Timing, and why three hours is too longTiming, and why three hours is long -- Three hours for six pounds reflects a period preference for thoroughly cooked veal. Cook instead to an internal temperature of 145-150F at the centre of both the meat and the stuffing; in gently simmering liquid that point is often reached well before three hours, so begin checking early rather than working to a fixed time per pound. Rest 20 minutes before slicing.
- ForcemeatVictorian veal forcemeat is breadcrumbs, suet or butter, chopped bacon or ham, lemon zest, parsley, thyme and egg to bind. Any raw meat in it must reach the same 145-150F as the joint, so check the stuffing with the thermometer too, not just the meat.
- White thickeningA pale roux of equal butter and flour cooked without colour, or the same worked cold into a beurre manie. Whisk it into strained cooking liquor and simmer a few minutes to lose the raw flour taste before adding lemon juice and sherry.
- MaceBlade mace, the lacy coat of the nutmeg, was standard in white sauces. Ground mace works; about a quarter teaspoon for a pint of sauce, or substitute a smaller pinch of nutmeg.
- Oyster sauceThis means a white sauce finished with poached oysters and their liquor, not the bottled Cantonese condiment. Add shucked oysters to the finished sauce off the heat and give them a minute or two only; longer and they tighten to rubber.
- YieldThe recipe gives six persons, but six pounds boned will stretch to eight to ten by modern portions, more with the tongue served alongside as directed. The cooking liquid, strained and chilled, makes excellent light stock.
Boiled or, more accurately, poached joints of veal belong to a long European preference for keeping this meat white. Calves were raised on milk and kept from exercise for pale flesh, and cooks reinforced the effect by cooking in water or milk-and-water rather than browning, then serving with pale sauces thickened with an uncoloured roux. Cassell's remark that the dish "if served alone is in danger of being considered insipid" is candid about the result: lean, mild and needing help, which is why forcemeat goes inside, a salty boiled tongue comes alongside, and lemon, sherry and mace go into the sauce. The stated price of 1s 1d per pound places veal above the average in the late-Victorian market, though prime cuts of beef and mutton could reach a shilling or more in the same period: a genteel meat for a household that could afford a six-pound joint and a tongue to keep it company.