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Bouquet of Herbs
Pare off the skin, and trim the veal into an oval shape; lard this neatly and closely with larding bacon; put it into a stewpan on a mirepoix, that is, a bed of carrot, onion, bacon, and celery all cut up; the herbs tied together, and sufficient stock to well moisten the veal; cover it over with buttered paper, and stew slowly for about an hour and a half; baste it about every ten minutes.
When done, place the veal on a baking sheet in the oven for about five minutes to glaze the bacon. Strain the stock, free it from grease, boil it down to half-glaze. Remove the veal from the oven, glaze it nicely, and serve it on a bed of spinach or sorrel, and pour the half-glaze round. A fricandeau may be served with tomato sauce or macédoine of vegetables, instead of spinach, etc.
This is a fricandeau — a larded cushion of veal braised on a vegetable bed and glazed. The technique survives intact; only the butcher's vocabulary and the equipment have shifted.
- The cut"The veal" here means the cushion, or thick end of the leg — a solid, single-muscle piece cut across the grain so it slices cleanly. The recipe gives no weight. Ask for veal top round or a piece of leg; a shoulder joint will not hold the oval shape.
- Larding, and what to do insteadLarding bacon is unsmoked back fat cut into thin strips and threaded through the meat with a larding needle. Few kitchens keep the needle now. Barding — tying a thin sheet of pork fatback or unsmoked streaky bacon over the top — gives most of the same protection, though not the interior marbling.
- MirepoixThe recipe defines it for you: carrot, onion, bacon and celery roughly cut. Cut them thick, about half-inch dice, so they do not collapse into the stock during a long braise.
- The bouquet"The herbs tied together" is a bouquet garni — parsley stalks, thyme and a bay leaf bound with string or tucked inside a leek leaf. Tying matters only so it can be lifted out whole before the stock is reduced.
- Buttered paperA round of buttered parchment pressed down onto the meat, what modern kitchens call a cartouche. It lets steam escape while keeping the surface moist, which a tight lid will not do. Use parchment, not foil.
- Heat and time"Stew slowly" means a bare tremble; note that the recipe keeps the pan on the stove and uses the oven only at the end, to glaze. An hour and a half suits a modest cushion; a thicker piece may want longer. It is done when a skewer meets no resistance, not by the clock.
- BastingEvery ten minutes is not padding — the stock only moistens the joint rather than covering it, so the exposed top dries and the bacon fails to take a glaze otherwise.
- Half-glazeStrained braising liquid boiled down until it coats a spoon. A gelatinous veal stock reduces to a glossier result than a thin one.
- YieldThe recipe gives no yield; carve in slices across the grain, about a third of an inch thick.
The fricandeau was one of the fixed items of the classical French repertoire, and appears in English cookery books from the eighteenth century onward as a way of turning a lean, unpromising piece of veal leg into a dish worth carving at table. The larding is the point: veal cushion has almost no internal fat, and threading it with strips of pork back fat both bastes it from within and gives the sliced surface its characteristic dotted pattern. Serving it on a bed of spinach or sorrel is traditional, and the alternatives offered here, tomato sauce or a macédoine of diced vegetables, were common garnishes for the dish. The instruction to define mirepoix mid-sentence suggests the book was written for cooks working their way toward French method rather than those already trained in it.