Jellied Veal
1 bay leaf I knuckle of veal 2 onions I blade of mace I bay leaf 1 gill of good vinegar 12 whole cloves 6 pepper-corns 1/2 teaspoonful of ground allspice Salt and pepper to taste Wipe the knuckle and cut it into pieces; put it in a kettle with two quarts of cold water; bring it slowly to simmering point; skim, and simmer gently for two hours; then add the onion, mace, bay leaf, cloves, pepper-corns and allspice, and simmer one hour longer. Take out the knuckle, carefully remove the bones, and put the meat into a square mould. Boil the liquor until reduced to one quart; strain, add the vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, pour it over the meat, and stand it away over night to cool. When cold, turn it carefully out of the mould, garnish it with parsley and lemon, and it is ready to serve. 3½ pounds of veal
A cold-weather technique turned to summer use: the jelly here comes entirely from the collagen in the veal knuckle, so nothing about the method can be rushed. Two things matter most — a bare simmer, and a real reduction.
- The knuckleA veal knuckle is the shank end, sold now as veal shank or osso buco cross-cuts, bone in. Ask for it sawn into two- or three-inch pieces; the split bone and the surrounding gristle are what set the jelly. About 3½ lb, as the note at the end confirms.
- A gillHalf a cup. Use a plain white wine vinegar rather than a harsh distilled one — at that quantity in a quart of stock it is assertive, and reducing it further is not an option since it goes in at the end.
- Blade of maceOne piece of the dried outer casing of nutmeg, still sold whole in spice shops. If you only have ground mace, a scant 1/4 teaspoon is close enough, but strain the liquor through a cloth or it will cloud.
- Never let it boilOnce the meat is in, hold it at a lazy simmer with the surface barely moving. A rolling boil emulsifies fat and albumen into the liquid and you get a cloudy, greyish jelly instead of a clear amber one. Skim carefully during the first fifteen minutes.
- The reduction is the setBoiling the strained liquor down to one quart is the load-bearing step. Chill a spoonful on a saucer for a few minutes: if it does not firm up, keep boiling. Depending on the knuckle, the jelly can come out slack.
- Season the liquor, not the meatSalt and pepper go into the reduced stock, and it should taste slightly too seasoned while warm — cold food reads flatter. Taste after the vinegar goes in, since the acid changes how the salt lands.
- Chill in the refrigerator"Stand it away over night" meant a cold larder or ice chest. Cool the filled mould quickly — a sink of cold water helps — then refrigerate; a warm meat jelly left out for hours is exactly the wrong environment. Six hours is usually enough to set, overnight is better.
- Unmoulding and yieldDip the mould in hot water for ten seconds and run a thin knife round the edge before inverting. Serves six to eight as a cold main course, sliced about half an inch thick, with the parsley and lemon and something sharp — mustard or pickled cucumber.
Jellied veal belongs to the long European tradition of setting cooked meat in its own gelatine — the German and Scandinavian Sülze and kalvsylta, the French fromage de tête, the English brawn — all of which existed because a jelly cake of meat could be sliced cold, kept for several days in a cool larder, and eaten without lighting a fire. That last point may help explain why it should sit in a book of hot weather dishes: before domestic refrigeration and mechanical ice, summer cookery meant cooking once in the cool of the morning and eating cold for days afterwards. Veal knuckle was the cut of choice because it is cheap, nearly all collagen and bone, and yields a firm set with no added gelatine at all. The generous vinegar is traditional to the type as well as practical; acid brightens meat that will be eaten cold and was generally understood to help the dish keep.