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Stewed Loin of Veal
Take part of a loin of veal, the chump end will do. Put it into a large, thick, well-tinned iron saucepan, or into a stew-pan, add about two ounces of butter, and shake it over a moderate fire until it begins to brown; flour the veal well over, lay it in a saucepan, and when it is of a fine, equal light brown, pour gradually in veal broth, gravy or boiling water, to nearly half its depth; add a little salt, one or two sliced carrots, a small onion, or more when the flavor is liked, and one bunch parsley. Stew the veal very softly for an hour or rather more, then turn it and let it stew for nearly or quite another hour or longer, should it not appear perfectly done. A longer time must be allowed when the meat is more than middling size. Dish the joint; skim all the fat from the gravy and strain it over the meat, or keep the joint hot while it is rapidly reduced to a richer consistency.--Mrs. J.
A pot braise rather than a stew: the meat goes in whole, browns in butter, and finishes in a shallow bath of broth. Two things need translating — the cut, and the length of the cooking.
- The chump endThe chump is the rear of the loin, next to the leg — the sirloin end, sold today as veal sirloin. The recipe gives no weight; anything "more than middling size" in the original means a larger joint, not a different cut.
- A well-tinned iron saucepanThis means a deep, heavy pot with a non-reactive lining, i.e. an enameled Dutch oven. A tin lining kept bare iron from discoloring pale meat and from reacting with acidic liquids; enamel or stainless does the same job.
- Moderate fireOn a modern burner, medium — roughly what you would use to brown a chicken. The stewing that follows should be at a bare tremble, around 200-210F, which on most stoves is the lowest setting with the lid ajar. "Very softly" is the operative phrase.
- The flouring stepThe veal is browned in butter first, then floured and browned again. The flour toasts in the fat and thickens the gravy without a separate roux; do it in a thin, even dusting or you get pasty patches. Shake off the excess before the joint goes back in.
- Half its depthLiquid to halfway up the meat, not covering it — this is a braise, not a boil. Turning the joint at the halfway mark, as instructed, keeps both sides moistened.
- Two hours is long for loinSirloin veal is lean, and current guidance puts doneness at 145F internal, which a modest joint may reach well before the stewing time is up. Cook it to temperature rather than to the clock; the full two hours suits a tougher cut such as shoulder or breast, where connective tissue needs the time, and risks leaving loin dry.
- The gravyBoth finishes given are worth doing: skim the fat, then reduce the strained liquid hard while the meat rests under foil. Veal broth reduced this way sets to a light glaze; water will give a thinner sauce, so use stock if you have it.
- YieldNo serving count is given. Strain the carrots and onion out of the gravy — serve them alongside rather than discarding.
This method — brown in butter, flour, moisten to half depth, stew slow, reduce the gravy — is the standard English braise of the period, and the phrasing here resembles that of the household manuals of the mid-century, Eliza Acton's among them, which circulated widely in American kitchens. Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1879) was compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree from contributions solicited from some 250 Virginia housekeepers, which is why so many entries end as this one does, with an initial rather than a full name. The reliance on a "well-tinned" pot is a small period detail worth noticing: tinned iron and copper were the everyday non-reactive surfaces before enamel, and the tin wore through with use, which is why cookbooks kept specifying it.