R. R
Veal Loaf.
Two and a half pounds meat taken from fillet or shoulder, or wherever the meat is free from fat. Take out all the little white, fibrous or sinewy particles, and chop finely, almost to a paste. Mix in rolled cracker crumbs with one egg to hold it together, a little butter, red and black pepper, and salt to taste. Form into a small loaf; dredge with the cracker crumbs, and put several little pieces of butter over the outside. Set this loaf uncooked, with about one quart water or some broth, in a pan; put it in the oven and baste constantly for two hours, and when taken out to cool, pour any remaining liquid over the loaf. It ought to cut in slices and be quite compact--no caverns in the inside of the loaf.--Mrs. G. P.
A cold-sliced meat loaf of the sort that anchored Virginia sideboards and picnic baskets. The original gives no oven temperature and no crumb measurement, so both need judgment.
- The hinge: pack it tightThe instruction about "no caverns in the inside of the loaf" is the whole test. Chop or grind the veal fine, then press the mixture firmly and repeatedly as you shape it so there are no air pockets; a loose loaf crumbles the moment a knife touches it cold.
- Oven temperatureNo temperature is given. A moderate oven, 325-350F, suits this: hot enough to brown the buttered top, gentle enough that lean veal in a shallow bath of liquid does not seize and go dry.
- Cook to temperature, not to two hoursGround or finely chopped veal is safe at 160F on an instant-read thermometer in the centre. Two hours is likely longer than a 2.5 lb loaf needs, though the quart of liquid in the pan will slow things; start checking with a thermometer after about an hour and a quarter.
- Cracker crumbsNo quantity is specified. About a cup of finely rolled crumbs (saltines or plain soda crackers) to 2.5 lb of meat is enough to bind without making it bready; one egg is all the original wants, and one is sufficient.
- Red and black pepper"Red pepper" here means cayenne, not paprika or a fresh chile. A quarter teaspoon plus a good half teaspoon black pepper and a scant tablespoon of salt is a reasonable starting point for this weight of meat.
- The quart of liquidA quart in a pan under the loaf is a lot; it steams the sides and keeps the lean meat moist. Use a pan just larger than the loaf so the liquid stays deep enough to baste from, and use broth rather than water if you have it, since veal contributes little of its own flavour.
- "Baste constantly"Every 15 minutes is enough in a modern sealed oven; the original assumes a cook already standing at the range. Repeated basting is what glazes the crumbed exterior.
- Cooling and servingPour the reduced pan liquid over the loaf as it cools; if broth was used it may set to a light jelly, which helps the slices hold. Chill it thoroughly before cutting. Expect 8 to 10 servings as a cold luncheon or supper dish.
Veal loaf belongs to the nineteenth-century American habit of the cold sliced meat dish, made in the morning, pressed, and carried to the table or the picnic basket at whatever hour was convenient. Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1879) was compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree from contributions by some 250 Virginia housekeepers, and the initialled attribution here -- "Mrs. G. P." -- is typical of the book's method: recipes passed between households, printed as received, with the terse assumption that the reader already knows how to judge an oven.