Veal Steak
First beat until it is tender, then without washing lay on a gridiron over coals; turn over it a tin plate to prevent hardness and dryness. Turn the steak, and when well done, with a knife and fork press it and turn it in a pan or plate of hot melted butter. After putting in plate of hot butter and letting it absorb as much of the butter as possible, lay it on a dish, pepper and salt it plentifully, and pour over the melted butter. (Set in the oven a few minutes, but not long enough for the butter to fry, which is ruinous to the flavor of steaks, game,etc.) When done, sift over grated cracker. Garnish with pars ley and serve hot.--Mrs. S. T.
A hearth recipe for a thin veal cutlet, cooked over coals and finished in butter. Two details do the work: the cover that keeps the meat from drying, and the warm butter bath that stands in for a sauce.
- The hinge: keep the butter from fryingThe author is emphatic, and right. Once melted butter goes past a gentle simmer it browns and turns nutty-bitter, which fights the mild flavor of veal. Warm the butter only to liquid, and if you use the oven at the end set it no higher than 250-275F for three or four minutes, just to hold the plate hot.
- Gridiron and coalsA gridiron is a grate set over the fire's embers. A charcoal grill is the closest equivalent; a heavy cast-iron pan or ridged grill pan over medium-high heat gives the same result indoors.
- The tin plateInverting a tin plate over the steak traps steam and reflects heat, so the surface does not dry out. Use a metal bowl, a pan lid, or a sheet of foil tented loosely over the meat.
- "Without washing"Sound advice then and now. Rinsing raw meat spreads bacteria around the sink and wets the surface so it steams instead of searing. Pat dry instead.
- "Beat until tender"The cut is not specified; veal steaks were commonly taken from the leg, which is lean and sinewy. Pound between sheets of plastic wrap to an even thickness -- about a quarter-inch works -- with a flat mallet; a spiked tenderizer shreds meat this thin.
- "Well done"Nineteenth-century cookbooks routinely direct veal to be cooked through, as this one does. Current USDA guidance for whole cuts of veal is 145F with a three-minute rest, which on a pounded cutlet means only a minute or two per side; note that this is a departure from the recipe's own instruction. Anything longer and it turns to leather.
- Grated crackerDry, plain soda crackers or water biscuits, grated or crushed to coarse crumbs, sifted over as a finishing texture rather than a coating. Unsalted crackers are better here, since the steak is already peppered and salted plentifully.
- Butter and yieldNo quantity is given. A few tablespoons of butter per cutlet, enough to make a shallow pool the meat can be turned in, will do; one cutlet serves one. The recipe speaks throughout of 'the steak' in the singular, which suggests they were handled one at a time.
Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1878), compiled by Marion Cabell Tyree, advertised contributions from some 250 Virginia housewives, which is why so many entries close with a set of initials like Mrs. S. T. rather than a full name. Veal appears often in such books; a farm that kept a milk cow had surplus bull calves to dispose of, which plausibly kept veal cheap and common rather than a luxury, and its leanness and mild flavor suit the heavy use of butter here. The method itself belongs to the open hearth: a gridiron over cleared coals, with a plate inverted over the meat to do the work a lid or a covered pan would do on a range. Cookstoves were spreading through Virginia kitchens by the 1870s, and the brief turn in the oven at the end may reflect a kitchen working with both, though the author's reason for warning against letting the butter fry is not stated.