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Veal, Loin of, Braised, Superlative
Take the best end of a loin of veal weighting about eight pounds, and trim it square. Cut the flap slightly, and in the incision thus made just over the ends of the bones place some nice veal forcemeat. Fasten securely with skewers and string. Cover the bottom of a braising-pan with sliced vegetables, and lay the veal on them; pour in as much stock or water as will just reach the surface of the veal. Lay a round of oiled paper on the top, if possible put some live embers on the lid of the pan, and braise the meat over a gentle fire till it is quite tender. Baste frequently with its liquor. When done enough, take it up, drain it, and put it in the oven to keep hot. Strain the gravy, skim the fat from it, and boil quickly till it is much reduced and begins to thicken, then glaze the meat with it. Place the joint on a dish, and garnish with cooked vegetables, arranging these so that the colours will contrast one with another. Cauliflowers, carrots, turnips, mushrooms, tomatoes, lettuces, asparagus, sorrel, endive, and spinach may all be served with braised loin of veal and mushrooms. Tomato, white Italian, or brown sauce may accompany it. Time to braise the veal, three hours.
A large braise built for a coal range, where the pan sat over a low fire with embers heaped on the lid. In a modern kitchen the whole thing goes into a low oven, which gives the same all-round gentle heat without the ash.
- The hinge: liquid to the surface, not over itThe stock should come just to the surface of the meat, leaving the top exposed to steam and colour. Submerge the joint and you have a boiled loin with grey exterior and washed-out gravy.
- Braising-pan and embersUse a heavy lidded roasting pan or oval Dutch oven that fits the joint closely. Instead of live embers on the lid, set the covered pan in a 300-325F oven, which reproduces the steady heat from above and below.
- The oiled paperA round of paper brushed with oil, laid directly on the meat, is a cartouche. Parchment cut to fit does the same job: it holds a film of moisture against the exposed surface so it bastes itself between openings of the lid.
- "Best end of a loin" at eight pounds"Best end of a loin" is generally taken to mean the rib end of the loin, bone in, and it is likely a special order from a butcher rather than a supermarket cut. A boned-and-rolled loin or a shoulder of similar weight braises well on the same plan, though a boneless joint will be tender sooner.
- Three hours, and what to checkThree hours suits a bone-in eight-pound joint in a slow oven, but start testing at two hours; the meat should give easily to a skewer, and an instant-read thermometer in the thickest part away from bone should show about 150-160F for a sliceable braise.
- Veal forcemeatThe recipe says only "nice veal forcemeat". A typical Victorian veal forcemeat is minced veal or breadcrumbs bound with suet, egg, lemon zest, parsley and mace. Any well-seasoned bread-and-herb stuffing works; keep it firm enough to stay put when the flap is skewered shut.
- The glazeStraining, skimming and hard-boiling the braising liquor until it is syrupy takes longer than expected; the recipe gives no measure for the stock, so reduce by eye until it coats a spoon. Brush it onto the hot joint in thin coats, letting each set before the next.
- Yield and serviceAn eight-pound bone-in loin serves ten to twelve. The vegetable garnish is cooked separately and arranged for contrast; sorrel, endive and lettuce here mean braised or stewed, not raw salad leaves.
Braising in this style is French kitchen practice widely taken up in English cookery in the nineteenth century: the braisière was a pan with a recessed, rimmed lid designed to hold hot embers so the joint took heat from above as well as below, and the instruction to "put some live embers on the lid" is a survival of that vessel. Veal held a particular place in Victorian cookery because it is mild and gelatinous — qualities that suited long moist cooking and produced a braising liquor that set to a natural glaze without added thickening, which is why the recipe simply reduces the gravy rather than working in flour. Cassell's habit of listing a long string of possible garnishes and three possible sauces reflects the dictionary format: the entry is less a fixed formula than a template a cook could dress according to the season and the rest of the menu, and the note about arranging the vegetables so the colours contrast belongs to a period when a large joint was often carried to table as a set piece before being carved.