Braised Veal
Have the butcher remove the bones from a shoulder of veal. Make a stuffing with 1 quart of stale bread, I chopped onion, a high seasoning of salt, pepper and thyme and 6 tablespoonfuls of melted beef suet. Stuff and tie the meat in shape. In the bottom of the pan put I layer each of sliced carrot and onion, add a bit of bay leaf, 2 cloves and 6 peppercorns; on this place the meat. Pour round it 1 pint of stock (made from the bones) or water and 1 cupful of cooked tomato. Add salt and pepper. Cover closely.
Place in a slow oven. Allow three-quarters of an hour for each pound (with bones removed).
Strain the sauce, diluting if necessary. A knuckle of veal may be cooked in the same way, allowing an hour per pound.
A boned, stuffed shoulder braised on a bed of aromatics — the technique is sound and needs only a few translations of vessel, temperature and timing.
- Slow ovenRead this as roughly 275–325°F. The liquid should barely tremble, not bubble; a hard simmer squeezes the veal dry and toughens the outer inch before the centre softens.
- The panA heavy Dutch oven with a tight lid. If the lid is loose, lay a sheet of parchment or foil directly on the meat before covering, or the pint of stock will boil away.
- Timing, revisedThree-quarters of an hour per pound gives roughly 2¼ hours for a 3 lb boneless shoulder, which is about right, but go by texture rather than the clock — the meat is done when a skewer slides out with no resistance, generally 2½ to 3 hours.
- Beef suetSix tablespoons of shredded fresh suet gives the stuffing its richness. Butter works, though the stuffing will be softer.
- A quart of stale breadAbout 4 cups of dry cubes or coarse crumbs. Moisten with a few spoonfuls of stock or the tomato before stuffing, or the bread will pull moisture out of the veal.
- TyingButcher's twine at 1-inch intervals, and do not overpack the cavity — stuffing swells. Sear the tied roll in a little fat before it goes on the vegetables; the original skips this and the sauce is paler for it.
- The sauceStrain, then reduce rather than dilute unless it has gone salty; a boned shoulder throws off a good deal of liquid. Skim the fat and finish with a small piece of butter.
- Knuckle of vealThis is the shank, the cut sold today as osso buco when crosscut. An hour per pound is realistic for it because of the connective tissue, and it will not need the stuffing.
- YieldThe recipe gives no weight or yield; a boned shoulder of about 3 lb with stuffing will serve six or so, with sauce.
Braising a boned and stuffed shoulder makes economical use of a cut that is worked muscle, sinewy and cheaper than the leg; only long moist heat at low temperature converts its collagen into something tender. That the recipe makes stock from the bones, then pours that stock back around the meat, is characteristic thrift — nothing bought twice, nothing thrown out. The bed of sliced carrot and onion with bay, cloves and peppercorns is the standard braising bed of French practice, said to have reached English and American household manuals by around the turn of the twentieth century, and the cup of cooked tomato adds acidity and colour to the finished sauce.