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Veal, Roast
Veal requires to be roasted carefully if it is to be nicely browned. It is always best to fasten a sheet of oiled or buttered paper over the joint. Hang it close to a clear fire, and at the end of twenty minutes draw it back and let it roast slowly till done through. Baste with good dripping every quarter of an hour. Twenty minutes before it is taken up remove the paper, dredge a little flour over the joint, and baste with fresh butter melted for the purpose in a spoon. Sprinkle a little salt over it five minutes before serving. Those joints which are not stuffed should have forcemeat balls sent to table with them. Ham, bacon, tongue, or pickled pork should accompany roast veal. A little brown gravy should be poured over the joint, and a little more served in the tureen.
This is spit-roasting instruction rather than a fixed recipe: a joint hung before an open fire, turned and basted, with paper standing in for the oven's shelter. The method translates cleanly to a modern oven if you keep the two-stage heat.
- The hinge: hot start, then slowThe twenty minutes "close to a clear fire" sets the surface; everything after is gentle cooking. In an oven, start at 425F for 20 minutes, then drop to 325F for the remainder. Veal is lean and dries out fast at sustained high heat.
- The buttered paperOiled or buttered kitchen paper shielded the meat from radiant fire while it cooked through. A loose tent of foil, or buttered parchment under foil, does the same job. Removing it for the last twenty minutes is what gives the browning, so do not skip that step.
- Timing and donenessThe book gives no times by weight; a modern rule of thumb is roughly 25 minutes per pound plus 25 for a bone-in joint, but cook to temperature rather than the clock: 145F at the centre for a whole cut, with a rest of at least three minutes (longer is better for carving). Stuffed joints need the stuffing itself to reach 165F.
- Dripping and basting"Good dripping" is saved beef or pork fat; use it if you keep a jar, otherwise clarified butter or a neutral oil. Basting every quarter hour is worth doing here because veal has almost no internal fat to protect it.
- The flour dredgeFlour scattered over the joint and basted with fresh butter forms a thin crust and adds colour. Use a fine sieve and no more than a tablespoon or two, or it goes pasty.
- Forcemeat ballsThese are seasoned veal or pork forcemeat, typically bound with breadcrumbs, suet and egg, rolled small and fried or baked. Any good stuffing mixture rolled into walnut-sized balls and baked alongside the joint for the last 25 minutes will serve.
- Why the ham and baconVeal is mild and lean; the salted accompaniments are seasoning as much as garnish. A few rashers laid over the joint for part of the cooking, or a slice of good ham on the plate, is the practical modern version.
- GravyThe recipe calls for brown gravy over the joint and more in the tureen, and says nothing about how it is made; veal roasting drippings are thin, so a separately made brown gravy is the likely assumption. Deglaze the tin with stock and a splash of wine, and reduce.
The instruction to hang the meat before a clear fire, in an open reflector or on a bottle-jack, reflects a kitchen in transition; the closed range was widespread in late Victorian Britain but roasting in the strict sense still meant radiant heat, and cookery writers of the period were careful to distinguish it from baking in an oven. The insistence on ham, bacon, tongue or pickled pork alongside veal is a longstanding English convention, generally explained by veal's mildness and lack of fat, and it survives in dishes such as veal and ham pie. Forcemeat balls served with unstuffed joints are the same logic applied to bulk and seasoning: they carry the herbs, suet and richness the meat itself does not supply.