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Veal, Knuckle of, Stewed with Macaroni
Break the shank-bone of a small knuckle of veal, wash the joint well, and put it into a stewpan with a shallot or a small onion, and a little pepper, salt, and pounded mace. Cover with stock or water, and let it simmer for an hour and a half. Throw half a pound of macaroni into it, and let it simmer till tender, when it will be ready for serving. If preferred, the sauce may be thickened and will be much improved by boiling with it for the last ten minutes a table-spoonful of ground rice mixed smoothly with milk; a little cream may be added to enrich it. Time, two hours. Probable cost, veal, 5d. to 7d. per pound. Sufficient for four or five persons.
A one-pot braise built on gelatine from the veal shank; the macaroni finishes in the cooking liquid and thickens it. Two adjustments matter most: the meat needs longer than an hour and a half, and the pasta needs far less.
- The cutA knuckle of veal is the shank — the same cut sold today as osso buco, though here left whole rather than crosscut. Ask the butcher to saw through the shank bone if you want the marrow to release into the liquid, which is what "break the shank-bone" means.
- Cooking time for the vealNinety minutes will leave a whole shank chewy. Allow 2 to 2½ hours at a bare simmer, until the meat pulls from the bone, before the pasta goes anywhere near it.
- The macaroniMacaroni of the period was generally a larger, thicker tube than the modern dried sort, and Victorian recipes commonly boil it twenty minutes or more. Modern dried macaroni is done in 8 to 10 minutes, so add it at the end and taste early; simmered "till tender" by the book's standards it will be paste.
- Half a pound of pastaThat is 225 g, which is generous against one shank and will drink up most of the liquid. Keep extra hot stock at hand, or cook the pasta separately and combine if you want a looser dish.
- Ground riceRice flour, not cooked rice. A tablespoon slaked in a little cold milk, stirred in and simmered ten minutes, gives a light body without the flouriness of a roux. Cornflour works the same way if rice flour is not to hand.
- Pounded maceMace is the outer covering of the nutmeg seed, and ground mace from a jar is a direct substitute for the pounded blade. Use about ¼ teaspoon; it is more floral and less sweet than nutmeg, and it dominates quickly.
- SeasoningWater will give a thin result. Use a light chicken or veal stock, and salt at the end — the liquid reduces considerably and the pasta absorbs salt as it cooks.
- YieldAs stated, four to five, but only if the shank is a decent size. Serve the meat carved off the bone with the macaroni and its sauce spooned over.
Cassell's puts this among the working recipes for cheap joints, and the price note explains why: at 5d. to 7d. a pound, a veal knuckle was among the cheaper things a butcher sold, all bone, sinew and gelatine, worth little as a roast but excellent for anything simmered long. Pairing it with macaroni reflects what seems to have been a Victorian habit of treating Italian pasta as an economical stretcher rather than a dish in its own right han than boboiled macaroni into soups and stews, or baked it with cheese, than dressed it with a sauce. The trick of finishing a stew with ground rice slaked in milk is often described as a common household thickening, and it gives a cleaner, less pasty sauce than flour does.