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Veal, Minced, Moulded
Cut into thin slices three-quarters of a pound of cold roast veal free from bone, skin, and fat, and mince them finely with a quarter of a pound of lean ham and a table-spoonful of bread-crumbs. Add half a tea-spoonful of finely-chopped onion (this, however, may be omitted), a pinch of grated lemon-rind, a pinch of grated nutmeg, and a little pepper and salt. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, and bind the mixture together with the yolk of an egg. Butter a mould, put in the mince, and bake in a moderate oven. When done enough turn it upon a hot dish, and pour round, but not over it, some good brown gravy made of the bones and trimmings of the veal. Garnish with sippets, and send fried bacon to table on a separate dish. Time to bake the preparation, three-quarters of an hour. Probable cost, exclusive of the cold meat, 4d. Sufficient for three or four persons.
A Victorian réchauffé — a way of turning the remains of a roast into a second, presentable dish. It is straightforward, but a few of its terms and proportions need translating.
- Moderate oven350F (180C). The three-quarters of an hour given is about right for a mould of this size; check that the centre reaches 165F before turning it out.
- The mouldA plain pudding basin, charlotte mould or small loaf tin of about a pint and a half. Butter it heavily and stand it in the tin of water if you want a gentler set; the recipe assumes direct dry heat, which browns the outside.
- Binding is the weak pointOne egg yolk to a pound of already-cooked meat gives a dry, crumbly loaf. A few spoonfuls of the brown gravy or stock worked into the mince before moulding keeps it sliceable without loosening the shape.
- Mince, do not puréeChop by hand or pulse briefly in a processor. Cooked veal reduced to a paste bakes into something rubbery and tight.
- SaltA quarter pound of lean ham carries a good deal of salt already. Season at the end of mixing, after tasting a pinch of the raw mixture cooked off in a pan.
- SippetsSmall triangles or fingers of bread, fried in butter or dripping and drained. Cut them before you bake so they can be fried while the mould rests.
- The gravy"Good brown gravy made of the bones and trimmings" means a browned veal stock reduced and lightly thickened. A well-reduced dark chicken or veal stock is the nearest shortcut. Pouring it round rather than over keeps the crust on the loaf.
- Yield and costThree or four portions, as stated. The "4d." is a Victorian price note and has no modern equivalent worth calculating.
Cassell's belongs to the era when a large roast joint was expected to reappear at table in different guises, and cookery books devoted whole chapters to what the French called rìhauffés — reheated made-over dishes. Veal was far more common on British tables in the nineteenth century than it is now, and its mild flavour made it a frequent candidate for this treatment, propped up with ham, lemon rind and nutmeg, seasonings often associated with Victorian cooks when a meat needed waking up. The moulding is the point: pressing the mince into a shape and turning it out disguised its origins and let cold Monday veal be sent in looking like a dish made on purpose. "Sippet" is an old diminutive related to sop, a small piece of bread for dipping in liquid, and by this period had settled into meaning the fried bread triangles set round a dish of gravy or hash.