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Roast Veal Single
Use rack of ribs of veal for this roast. Trim and wipe meat; season with salt and pepper, rub with shortening, dredge with flour, and place in hot roasting oven. Oven should be heated very hot at the beginning and roast should be turned twice in first 15 minutes to thoroughly sear surface of meat and seal up the juice. After this, a cup of boiling water should be poured in the bottom of the pan. Meat should be basted with a little broth or stock and roasted steadily for 2 1/2 hours longer, basting once in every 15 minutes. After first basting, liquor in bottom of pan may be used for this purpose. If liquor in bottom of pan seems exhausted after basting, add a little more water to prevent burning. Eight potatoes peeled and laid in pan during last 45 minutes that meat is roasting are excellent garnish and accompaniment. Potatoes should always be basted when meat is basted, to insure their good flavor with juices of meat and nicely browned. Allow 3/4 pound raw veal to a serving.
A straightforward searing-then-slow roast of a veal rib rack, written for a coal or early gas range where oven heat fell steadily on its own. On a modern oven you have to lower the dial yourself.
- Oven temperaturesThe recipe gives no figures. "Hot roasting oven" is usually taken to be somewhere around 450-475F, which suits the initial sear; the original expects the fire to slacken by itself thereafter, so on a modern oven drop the dial to about 325-350F once the water goes into the pan.
- Size and yieldThe 3/4 lb raw veal per serving is presumably bone-in weight, given the rack of ribs, in which case a rack of about 6 lb would feed eight. Trimmed boneless weight would be far less per person.
- Cooking timeTwo and a half hours after searing suits a large bone-in rack cooked to the well-done finish of the period. Today a rack is usually roasted to a much lower internal temperature; the USDA figure for whole cuts of veal is 145F with a three-minute rest, which on a 6 lb rack is closer to 1 1/2 to 2 hours at 325F. Use a thermometer rather than the clock.
- ShorteningAt this date shortening generally meant a solid fat: lard, butter or a vegetable shortening. Butter will brown and can scorch at searing heat; lard or oil is steadier.
- The searing claimTurning the roast twice in the first fifteen minutes browns the surface well, which is worth doing for flavour. It does not actually "seal up the juice" -- that idea has been disproven -- so do not extend the high heat hoping for a juicier result.
- Basting and the pan liquidThe single instruction that matters most is keeping liquid in the pan. Once it cooks dry the drippings burn and the pan gravy is ruined; check at each basting and top up with a few tablespoons of hot water.
- PotatoesEight medium peeled potatoes need 45-60 minutes at 325-350F. If your oven is at the lower end, halve them or start them ten minutes earlier.
- Dredging with flourThe flour coating browns fast at high heat and thickens the pan juices slightly. If you want a proper gravy, skim the fat and whisk the pan liquid with a little more flour on the stovetop after the roast rests.