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Veal, Goose
This very savoury dish, which is a favourite with many, may be made of breast of veal after the tendons or bones have been removed, or of the upper part of the flank of the loin, or of the skin of the best end of the neck which has been pared off with about an inch and a half of the flesh adhering to it. Lay the meat upon a table, cover with sage and onion stuffing, such as is used for goose; then roll it, bind securely with tape, and roast before a clear fire. When done enough place it upon a hot dish, and send good brown gravy and apple sauce to table with it.
A mock goose: veal rolled around the sage-and-onion stuffing normally reserved for the bird, then served with the goose's traditional accompaniments. Most of the work is in the boning and rolling.
- The cutBoneless veal breast is the closest modern equivalent and the easiest to source; ask the butcher to bone it and leave it in one flat sheet. The "skin of the best end of the neck" with an inch and a half of flesh is not a cut any counter will produce today, and the flank of the loin is likewise a whole-carcass butchery term.
- Stuffing quantityFor a 3-4 lb boned breast, figure on roughly 4 oz onion, 4 cups soft breadcrumbs, 2 tablespoons chopped sage, salt, pepper, and 2 oz butter. Spread it in a layer no thicker than half an inch or the roll will not close.
- TapeCookery tape was a narrow woven cotton or linen tape; use butcher's twine at 1-inch intervals along the roll, plus one length running lengthwise through the loops. Tie firmly but not so tight that stuffing extrudes at the ends.
- Fire to ovenRoasting "before a clear fire" means on a spit in front of glowing coals, turned and basted. In an oven, use 325-350F on a rack over a pan, and baste every 20 minutes; veal breast is lean and dries readily.
- Time and temperatureAllow about 30 minutes per pound, and go by the thermometer: 150F at the thickest part of the meat, with the stuffing at the centre reading at least 165F. A stuffed roll takes considerably longer than the same weight of solid meat.
- Resting and carvingRest 15-20 minutes before cutting, then slice across the roll in half-inch rounds so each serving shows the spiral of stuffing. Snip the twine away as you go rather than removing it all at once, or the roll relaxes.
- The gravy"Good brown gravy" here means a proper meat gravy, not pan drippings alone: the veal yields little fat and less colour. Deglaze the pan and build it out with veal or chicken stock.
- YieldA 3-4 lb boned breast with stuffing serves six to eight, with apple sauce alongside as the recipe directs.
Nineteenth-century cookery is full of mock dishes, and this is one of the plainest: veal dressed with the sage-and-onion stuffing and apple sauce that belong by long custom to roast goose, so that the flavour of the expensive bird is had from cheaper meat. Breast of veal, full of bone and tendon, was among the least costly cuts in the butcher's shop, and boning, stuffing, rolling and tying was a common remedy for cheap flat cuts, which both improved the eating and made an economical joint look like a considered roast. The same logic produced mock turtle from a calf's head and "poor man's goose" from liver and potatoes; the name promised the table a bird that had never been bought.