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To Pot Veal or Chicken with Ham
624. Pound some cold veal or white of chicken, season as directed in the last article, and put layers of it with layers of ham pounded, or rather shred; press each down, and cover with butter. Another--(A good supper dish.) Make a sauce of thin veal gravy, a quarter of a pound of butter, and a little flour. Pound or dress very fine sufficient cold veal and ham to fill your mould. Mix it with the sauce, and pour it hot into a mould, which must be previously lined with two or three hard-boiled eggs cut in slices. Turn out when cold.
Two related methods: a straight potted meat sealed under butter, and a moulded loaf set with a rich veal gravy. Both depend on cooked meat, so the work is in the pounding and the setting.
- The seasoning cross-reference"Season as directed in the last article" points to the preceding potting recipe, which is not reproduced here; the usual seasonings for potted meats of this kind were salt, pepper, pounded mace and a little cayenne, sometimes nutmeg. Season assertively: potted meat eaten cold tastes flatter than it did warm.
- The hinge: the butter sealIn the first version the butter is not a garnish but the closure. Clarify it, pour it warm over meat pressed absolutely level with no air pockets, and let it set to a layer at least a quarter-inch thick. A broken or thin seal is the whole point of failure.
- Keep it cold, and eat it soonVictorian potting assumed a cold larder and a few weeks' keeping. Treat this as a refrigerated preparation only, kept covered and eaten within three or four days; the butter seal is not a substitute for canning.
- PoundingA mortar was intended, and it gives a smoother, more cohesive paste than a food processor, which tends to shred into threads and then to paste in one jump. Pulse in short bursts and stop while some texture remains.
- "Thin veal gravy"This means a light unthickened veal stock, not a modern gravy. The mould sets from the butter and flour binding the pounded meat as it cools, and a stock with some body of its own will help it hold; a thin, watery stock makes for a softer turn-out.
- QuantitiesA quarter pound of butter is 115 g. "A little flour" with that much butter suggests roughly 1 to 2 tablespoons, enough to bind rather than to thicken to a paste; the meat and the stock's own gelatin do the rest.
- Lining the mouldSlice the hard-boiled eggs thin and press them against a mould rinsed in cold water or very lightly oiled. Pour the mixture in hot but not boiling, or the egg white toughens and the slices slide.
- Turning out and yieldChill at least six hours, preferably overnight, then dip the mould briefly in hot water before inverting. The recipe gives no quantities, only "sufficient... to fill your mould"; a mould of about a quart would serve roughly six to eight as a supper dish with toast, salad or pickles.