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Leftover Veal
VEAL BALLS 3 TABLESPOONS BUTTER 2 TABLESPOONS CRACKER CRUMBS I EGG, SLIGHTLY BEATEN SALT AND PEPPER A GRATING OF NUTMEG EGG, CRACKER CRUMBS AND BUTTER FOR FRYING Grind veal, brown crumbs in butter and mix with veal and egg, adding seasonings. Shape into small balls, roll in egg and crumbs and fry in more butter. Or mold into short cylinders, wrap in bacon and fry.
A straightforward way to use up cooked veal from a roast or a braise. The method is sound; the proportions need judgement, since the quantity of meat is not stated.
- How much vealThe recipe never states the quantity of meat. The binder given — 3 tablespoons butter, 2 tablespoons cracker crumbs, one egg — would suit something in the region of 2 cups of ground cooked veal (roughly 3/4 lb); with much more meat the balls are likely to fall apart, with much less the mixture may go pasty.
- Cooked meat, not rawThis belongs to a leftovers chapter, so the veal is already cooked. Grinding raw veal and following these times would leave the interior underdone; if starting from raw, treat it as a meatball recipe and cook to 160F throughout.
- Cracker crumbsThe recipe does not say which cracker. Plain soda crackers are the likely candidate; crushed unsalted saltines are a reasonable substitute. Panko is too coarse for the interior binder, though it works for the coating.
- Brown the crumbs firstToasting the crumbs in butter before mixing is the step that matters. It drives off moisture and adds the roasted flavour cooked veal has lost, and skipping it gives a bland, damp ball.
- Chill before shapingThe mixture is loose when warm. Half an hour in the refrigerator firms the butter and makes the balls hold their shape in the pan; shaped balls also benefit from a further rest after breading.
- FryingButter alone browns fast and burns. Clarified butter, or butter cut with a neutral oil, over medium heat gives an even crust in four to five minutes — long enough to heat the centre through and no longer.
- The bacon variationWrapped cylinders want a lower heat and turning on all sides so the bacon renders before the outside scorches; a toothpick helps hold each one. The text does not repeat the egg-and-crumb coating for this version, which suggests it is omitted.
- YieldOn the assumed quantity of meat, something like 18 to 20 small balls, enough for four. Good with a mustard cream sauce or simply with lemon.
Veal balls of this kind belong to nineteenth- and early twentieth-century leftover cookery, when a roast was expected to reappear at two or three further meals. The grating of nutmeg is a telling detail: nutmeg with veal is a long-standing European pairing, often associated with forcemeat and quenelle traditions, and it does real work here in lifting meat that has already given up much of its flavour in cooking. The bacon-wrapped variant reflects the same practical problem from another angle — cooked veal is lean and dry, and wrapping it in fat is a familiar fix.