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Veal, Loin of, Braised
Take four pounds of the chump end of a loin of veal. Take out the bone, and fill the cavity with good veal forcemeat. If liked, this may be omitted. Bind tightly with string, then put it in a stewpan with an ounce of butter, and turn it about till it is lightly and equally coloured all over. Lay some slices of bacon over it, and add the bones and trimmings of the veal, a large carrot, an onion sliced, a bunch of sweet herbs, half a tea-spoonful of whole pepper, a blade of mace, and a little salt. Pour over all a quart of stock, and simmer the veal as gently as possible, basting frequently with the liquor till it is tender. Take it up, and put it in the oven to keep hot. Strain the gravy, skim the fat from the surface, and boil quickly till it is considerably reduced. Put the meat on a dish, glaze it with part of the gravy, and stir into the rest an anchovy, a spoonful of capers, and a glassful of light wine. Dressed sorrel, spinach, or endive, may be served on a separate dish. Time to simmer the veal, two hours.
A straightforward braise, but the meat cut and a few of the measures need translating before you shop.
- The cutThe chump end of the loin is the hip end, next to the leg — sold today as veal sirloin or the sirloin end of a boned loin roast. Ask the butcher to bone it and give you the bones and trimmings, which the recipe uses in the braising liquor.
- The hinge: keep it below a simmer"As gently as possible" is the whole instruction. Veal loin is lean and will turn stringy in a rolling boil; the liquid should barely tremble. The original keeps the pan on the stove and bastes frequently, so if you move it to a low oven instead you lose the basting — either way, watch that the base does not scorch.
- Two hours is long by modern standardsA 4 lb boned loin braised gently for two hours will be thoroughly cooked through and sliceable, which is what a Victorian table wanted. Cooks who prefer veal pink should watch for 145F at the centre and stop there, though a stuffed roast tied around forcemeat needs the stuffing to reach 165F, so plan on the longer cooking if you fill the cavity.
- Quart, ounce, glassfulAn imperial quart is 40 fl oz, so about 5 cups of stock. An ounce of butter is 2 tablespoons. "A glassful of light wine" is unspecified in the original; a wineglassful is usually reckoned at about 2 fl oz, roughly 1/4 cup — a dry white is a sensible reading of "light".
- Blade of mace and sweet herbsA blade of mace is one piece of the dried husk of nutmeg; about 1/4 teaspoon ground is a rough equivalent, though the recipe adds the whole blade at the start with the stock. "A bunch of sweet herbs" is a bouquet garni: parsley stalks, thyme and a bay leaf tied together.
- The anchovyOne salted anchovy fillet mashed into the reduced gravy, or a teaspoon of anchovy paste, dissolves completely and reads as savoury depth rather than fish. Add it off the boil and taste before salting further — the gravy is already reduced and the anchovy carries salt.
- Keeping it hot"Put it in the oven to keep hot" implies a very low oven; the original gives no temperature, so around 175-200F, loosely covered, will do while the gravy reduces. Rest it at least 15 minutes before carving in any case.
- Yield and the green dishFour pounds of boned loin serves six to eight. The sorrel, spinach or endive is simply called "dressed" in the original, with no method given; butter is the usual reading. Sorrel in particular cuts the richness of the glaze — it is worth doing if you can find it.
Braising a loin of veal in stock with bacon over it, on a bed of bones and root vegetables, is a French technique that reached English cookery books largely through the professional kitchen, and the recipe is a clear demonstration of the method: colour the meat, build a fond from trimmings, cook it slowly in a little liquid, then reduce that liquid into the sauce. Veal was a prestige meat in Victorian Britain — pale, expensive, and valued for exactly the blandness that makes this recipe pile on forcemeat, anchovy, capers and wine to give it character. The anchovy is a characteristic period move: dissolved into a gravy it did work that commercial sauces and stock cubes would later take on, and English cooks used it widely. Sorrel served alongside is an older habit still, its sharpness a traditional foil to fatty or rich meat.