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Cutlets of Veal, with Oysters (Take two pounds of veal)
431. Take two pounds of veal cutlets, cut them into thin pieces, put them in a frying-pan with boiling lard, and let them fry till the veal is half done; then add a quart of large oysters, their liquor thickened with grated bread-crumbs, and seasoned with mace and nutmegs. Continue frying till veal and oysters are thoroughly done; serve in a covered dish.
A quick pan dish from the era when oysters were cheap enough to be treated as a bulking ingredient rather than a luxury. The one thing worth changing is the order of work.
- Oyster timingOysters plump and firm within a minute or two of hitting heat; held in a pan until "thoroughly done" they shrink to rubber. Cook the veal through first, then slide the oysters in for the last minute or so, just until their edges ruffle.
- A quart of oystersShucked oysters were sold by liquid measure. A quart is about 4 cups, on the order of two dozen to three dozen medium oysters (fewer, given the recipe calls for large ones), or two 16 oz tubs, and it will yield perhaps a cup of liquor once drained.
- Veal cutlets, cut thinThe book says only 'thin pieces'; read this as escalopes, slices from the leg or loin, pounded thin. Cut that thin they need only a minute or two a side.
- Boiling lardRead this as lard hot enough to sizzle briskly, with enough in the pan to film it generously rather than to deep-fry. Clarified butter or a neutral oil works if lard is unavailable, though lard gives the flavour the recipe assumes.
- Thickening the liquorStrain the liquor to remove grit, then whisk in dry breadcrumbs off the heat, a spoonful at a time, until it is the consistency of thin cream. Fresh crumbs turn it pasty; use fine dried crumbs.
- Mace and nutmegBoth come from the same fruit, mace being the outer covering of the nutmeg seed, so the seasoning is one flavour at two intensities. Start with 1/4 teaspoon ground mace and a few gratings of nutmeg for this quantity and taste before adding more.
- SaltNo salt is specified. The oyster liquor is salty in itself, so season the veal lightly before frying and check the sauce at the end.
- Yield and serviceTwo pounds of veal with this quantity of oysters serves four generously. The covered dish is not decoration: the sauce is thin and cools fast, so warm the dish first.
Pairing veal with oysters looks extravagant now but made plain economic sense in the nineteenth century, when oysters were cheap and plentiful -- in Britain dredged in quantity from the Thames estuary, Whitstable and the Essex flats -- and were routinely used to stretch and flavour meat dishes, in steak pies, forcemeats and sauces alike. Mace and nutmeg were a standard English seasoning for both veal and shellfish, a habit inherited from much older cookery, and thickening a liquid with grated breadcrumbs rather than flour or a roux belongs to the same older tradition. This recipe, brisk and unfussy in a single pan, is closer to that domestic manner than to the elaborated French method promoted in the grand cookery books of the period, and it comes from before the oyster beds were overfished and prices climbed beyond the reach of everyday cooking.