Veal Chops
Wipe chops taken from the rack of veal; make an incision, and put in a few drops of onion juice, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Dip in flour, egg, and crumbs, and sauté in pork fat until tender. Serve on hot platter with tomato sauce and parsley.
A straightforward breaded veal chop, but the original assumes a thin rib chop and a cook who knows what "until tender" means for veal.
- The cut"Rack of veal" means the rib section, so these are bone-in rib chops; the recipe does not state a thickness. Loin chops work the same way. A very thick chop will not cook through by sautéing alone and is better finished in a moderate oven.
- The incisionCutting a pocket in the meat and seasoning inside it, rather than only on the surface, is what distinguishes this recipe. Slit toward the bone, work in the onion juice, lemon juice, salt and pepper, then press the chop closed.
- Onion juiceGrate half an onion and press the pulp in a fine sieve, or squeeze it in a cloth. The recipe calls for only a few drops, so very little is needed.
- Flour, egg, and crumbsThe standard three-stage breading: seasoned flour, then one egg beaten with a tablespoon of water or milk, then dry fine crumbs. Letting the coated chops rest 15 minutes on a rack before frying keeps the crust from sliding off.
- Pork fatLard or rendered salt pork fat. Any neutral oil or a mix of oil and butter serves; you want about 1/4 inch in the pan, hot enough to sizzle but not smoking, since the crumbs brown well before the meat is done.
- TimingRoughly six to eight minutes a side over medium heat for a chop of moderate thickness. Current guidance puts veal chops at 145F with a short rest; the recipe's "until tender" probably meant rather longer, with a drier result. Rest the chops a few minutes before serving.
- YieldOne chop per person; the recipe gives no yield. Serve with a plain cooked tomato sauce; ladling it onto the platter rather than over the crust keeps the breading crisp.
Lowney's Cook Book (1907) was published by the Walter M. Lowney Company, a Boston chocolate manufacturer, and, like other branded cookbooks of the era, it surrounded its chocolate advertising with a full general cookery course drawn from the New England domestic-science tradition. This chop is in that tradition's style: a breaded, sautéed cutlet in the French manner, simplified for an American range and served with tomato sauce, a pairing that appears frequently with breaded veal in American cookbooks of the period. Veal was relatively cheap and plentiful, dairying producing surplus bull calves, and it appears more often in turn-of-the-century meat chapters than it does in home cooking now. Seasoning inside a pocket cut in the meat, rather than only on the surface, suited veal because the meat is mild in flavor.