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To Pot Veal (Cold fillet makes the finest)
623. Cold fillet makes the finest potted veal; or it may be done as follows:-Season a large slice of the fillet, before it is dressed, with some mace, pepper-corns, and two or three cloves; lay it close into a potting-pan that will but just hold it, fill it up with water, and bake it three hours; then pound it quite small in a mortar, and add salt to taste; put a little gravy that was baked to it in pounding, if to be eaten soon; otherwise only a little butter just melted. When done, cover it over with butter.
A straightforward potted meat: veal baked slowly under water with whole spices, pounded to a paste, and sealed with butter. The one thing to get right is the moisture — potted veal is notoriously dry, and the small amount of baking liquor worked back in during pounding is what saves it.
- "Before it is dressed"This means before it is cooked — the seasoning goes on raw meat. The first sentence offers the alternative: leftover cooked fillet, pounded and potted the same way.
- Fillet of vealIn British usage the fillet is the leg, cut across into thick round steaks, not the tenderloin. Ask for a slab of veal top round or leg about 1 1/2 to 2 in. thick, roughly 2 lb.
- Potting-pan and ovenAny deep ovenproof dish that the meat fits snugly, covered tightly with a lid or foil so the liquid does not evaporate. No temperature is given; three hours implies a slow oven, and something around 300F should answer. The meat should be soft enough to fall apart under a fork.
- Whole spicesMace is the lacy covering of nutmeg, sold as blades or ground. The receipt specifies only 'some' mace and peppercorns with two or three cloves; a blade or two and a dozen peppercorns is a reasonable reading. Fish out the whole spices before pounding, or the paste will be gritty and clove-heavy.
- PoundingA food processor does in a minute what a mortar did in twenty. Pulse rather than run it, and stop while some texture remains — potted veal beaten to a completely smooth cream loses its character.
- The moisture questionThe choice offered is between baking liquor, which tastes better but shortens keeping, and melted butter, which keeps longer. Add either a spoonful at a time until the paste just holds together.
- The butter sealThe receipt says only to cover it over with butter; clarified butter, poured over the packed and cooled paste, seals more reliably. Treat it as a flavour and air barrier only, not as preservation: keep the pots refrigerated and eat within three or four days.
- SaltSeason after pounding, and season firmly. Veal is bland and the paste is eaten cold, which flattens salt further.
- YieldThe receipt gives no quantities. Working from a slab of about 2 lb, expect roughly 1 lb of paste, enough to fill two or three ramekins.