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Veal, Pilau Of
Wash a pound of rice, throw it into boiling water, and boil it quickly for five minutes. Drain it, put it into a stewpan with four ounces of butter, and stir over a brisk fire till the rice is equally and lightly coloured without being at all burnt. Pour over it a pint and a half of stock or water, and let it simmer very gently till the grains are tender. Sprinkle a little curry-powder over the rice, and stir it with a fork. Spread a little on a dish. Place upon it a few cooked veal cutlets or a small breast of veal, which has been partially roasted, cut into neat pieces, and stewed in rich gravy. Arrange a few rashers of fried bacon round the veal, cover the meat with rice, brush over with beaten egg, and place it in the oven till it is brown and hot throughout. Garnish the dish with forcemeat balls, and serve hot. Time, altogether, two hours and a half to three hours.
A Victorian pilau built around leftover or part-roasted veal, finished as a baked rice mould. The rice does most of the work, and the method for it is sound if you watch the liquid.
- Rice and liquidA pound of rice is about 2 1/3 cups; a pint and a half is 3 cups by US measure (the British imperial pint here is 20 fl oz, so nearer 3 3/4 cups). Long-grain rice parboiled five minutes then simmered in 3 cups of stock will come out tender; add more hot stock a splash at a time rather than starting with too much.
- The hingeBrowning the rice in butter is characteristic of a pilau rather than a plain baked rice dish. Keep the grains moving and pull the pan off the heat the moment they turn pale gold -- scorched grains can taste bitter through the whole dish.
- Oven for the final browningNo temperature is given. Use 400F for 15 to 20 minutes, just long enough to set the egg glaze and heat the assembled dish through. The meat and rice are already cooked, so longer only dries it out.
- Breast of vealRarely stocked now; order it from a butcher, or substitute boneless veal shoulder, or shin cut off the bone. All need a long stew in gravy; the recipe gives no time for that stage, but roughly an hour and a half at a bare simmer is a reasonable guide within the stated total.
- Curry-powderVictorian curry powders tended to lean on turmeric, coriander and fenugreek, and were often lighter on chilli heat than many modern blends, though cayenne was a common ingredient. A mild Madras-style powder, about 2 teaspoons, is a reasonable reading of 'a little'. Stirring with a fork rather than a spoon keeps the grains separate.
- Forcemeat ballsSmall dumplings of minced veal or pork with breadcrumbs, suet, lemon zest and herbs, poached or fried. They can be made ahead and reheated with the dish; skip them without harming the result.
- Timing and yieldThe two and a half to three hours presumably covers part-roasting and stewing the veal as well as the rice. With cooked veal or cutlets already to hand, allow around 45 minutes. A pound of rice with the meat will serve six or more.
"Pilau" is one of several English spellings of a word that reached English through Turkish pilav and Persian pilāw, and by the nineteenth century it covered almost any dish of seasoned rice baked or steamed with meat; the curry powder that seasons it here reflects the Anglo-Indian kitchen. The recipe is a frame for using up cooked meat, with the rice giving bulk and the egg glaze giving the browned crust that made a made-over dish presentable at table. Veal breast was among the cheaper cuts and needed finding a use for; rashers of bacon round the meat compensate for veal's leanness.