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Minuten Fleisch
Cut from the tender, juicy part of a leg of veal a pound and a half, in slices exceedingly thin, and from three to four inches square. Season each slice with salt and pepper, lay them in a deep dish, and pour over them enough wine to cover. When they have steeped and imbibed the wine, dust them with flour on both sides, and put them into a stewpan of dissolved butter; add enough white stock to reach to half an inch above the meat. Squeeze in the juice of a lemon, and simmer with the lid closed. The meat should not boil hard, or it will be spoiled. Time, three hours to steep in wine; five minutes to simmer after it has come to the boil. Sufficient for four or five persons.
This is a veal escalope dish that lives or dies on the thickness of the meat: five minutes of gentle simmering only works if the slices are close to paper-thin. Everything else is a matter of translating a Victorian stewpan into a modern sauté pan.
- The hinge: thinness and a bare simmerCut across the grain from a leg (top round or cutlet) and pound the slices between sheets of plastic to about 1/8 inch. The instruction that the meat "should not boil hard" is the whole technique -- veal this thin seizes and turns dry and stringy the moment the liquid rolls.
- Quantities and yieldA pound and a half of veal serving four or five works out at roughly 5 to 6 oz per person, which reads as a light course rather than a main.
- The wine steepEnough wine to cover, three hours; the recipe does not say which wine, though the white stock suggests a pale one. Do this in the refrigerator, not on the counter, and pat the slices dry before flouring or the coating will slide off in the pan.
- "Dissolved butter"Simply melted butter, not clarified, though clarifying it will let you brown the floured slices without the milk solids scorching. Two to three tablespoons in a wide sauté pan is right for this quantity.
- White stockAn unroasted veal or chicken stock, pale rather than browned. Unsalted is important here since the slices were already seasoned and the liquid reduces. How much you need depends on the width of the pan: enough to stand half an inch above meat laid in a single layer.
- Timing as writtenFive minutes at a bare simmer after the liquid comes up, with the lid on. If your slices are thicker than 1/8 inch, take them out at five minutes anyway and reduce the sauce separately rather than extending the cooking.
- FinishingThe juice of one lemon in this volume of liquid is assertive. Add half, taste at the end, and add the rest off the heat. A knob of cold butter swirled in will bind the floury sauce.