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Veal Forcemeat
1/4 pound lean veal 2 ounces beef suet 2 ounces fine bread crumbs Salt and pepper 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon rind Chop the veal and suet very fine; mix the dry ingredients 1 tablespoon chopped parsley 1 teaspoon onion juice Dash of nutmeg 2 tablespoons milk 1 egg thoroughly; add milk and egg; season to taste and use.
A plain stuffing-and-dumpling mixture of the old school, meant to be packed into a boned bird, rolled into balls and poached, or spread under the skin. The transcription runs the two printed ingredient columns together, so read the list as: 1/4 lb lean veal, 2 oz beef suet, 2 oz fine bread crumbs, salt and pepper, 1/4 tsp grated lemon rind, 1 tbsp chopped parsley, 1 tsp onion juice, a dash of nutmeg, 2 tbsp milk, 1 egg.
- The hinge: textureForcemeat should be a smooth, cohesive paste, not a coarse hash. Chop or grind the veal and suet together while both are very cold, then pulse briefly in a food processor; over-processing warms the suet and makes the mixture greasy and dense.
- Beef suetRaw kidney fat from around the beef kidney, sold by butchers on request. Shredded packet suet works but is often coated in flour; frozen unsalted butter, grated, is an acceptable substitute at the same weight, though the result is softer.
- Fine bread crumbsDry, sifted crumbs from stale white bread, not the coarse fresh crumbs sold today and not panko. Two ounces is about 1/2 cup packed. If using fresh crumbs, reduce the milk, as they carry more moisture.
- Onion juiceA period shortcut for onion flavour without visible pieces: halve an onion and press the cut face against a grater or reamer, then use the liquid. A teaspoon of very finely grated onion does the same work.
- Seasoning by taste"Season to taste" is awkward here, since the mixture is raw. Fry a teaspoon of the forcemeat in a little butter, cool it, and taste that instead.
- Cooking itThe recipe stops at "use" because the bird supplies the cooking. Whether stuffed, rolled or shaped into balls, veal forcemeat must reach 165F throughout; a stuffed bird takes considerably longer than an unstuffed one, so check the centre of the stuffing with a thermometer, not the thigh alone.
- YieldAbout one cup, roughly 10 oz. Enough for a chicken or a pair of quail, or about a dozen small forcemeat balls to poach in stock and serve around a fricassee. Double it for a turkey.
Forcemeat comes from the French farce, "stuffing"; the English form is usually explained as an alteration of "farce" reinforced by the idea of forcing a mixture into a cavity. Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century cookery books commonly carry several versions: veal for poultry and white meats, pork for game, fish forcemeat for pike and quenelles. Veal was a common choice because it is pale, mild and low in its own fat, so the suet, crumbs and egg do the binding while lemon rind, parsley and nutmeg supply the flavour "forced" into the bird. A base preparation like this was meant to be turned to whenever a fowl, a boned shoulder or a batch of poached balls needed it, rather than belonging to any one dish.