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To Roll a Breast of Veal
446. After removing the larger bones, beat the veal well on all sides, to make it tender and pliable. Lay the underside uppermost, and cover it with yolk of egg, pounded lean of cooked ham, and chopped parsley and thyme (more of parsley than of thyme), seasoned with pepper, salt, and a little mace or nutmeg. Make a light batter of cream or milk and eggs, well stiffened with soaked bread-crumbs, which lay thickly on, and again strew with herbs and ham. Roll up the veal, and secure it tightly with a cloth and tapes. Stew till quite tender for full six hours. Press it for a day with a heavy weight, if to be eaten cold. If hot, serve with a rich gravy, made from the bones flavoured with lemon-juice and ketchup, and, if liked, a glass of white wine. In either case glaze it before sending to table.
A Victorian boned-and-rolled veal breast, stuffed with a ham-and-herb forcemeat and cooked either to slice hot with gravy or pressed cold. The hinge is the cooking time: six hours will reduce a boned breast to threads.
- Cut and weightAsk the butcher for a whole boned breast of veal, roughly 4-5 lb once the ribs and breastbone are out, and to keep the bones for the gravy. Have it butterflied flat rather than pocketed.
- TimingTwo and a half to three hours at a bare simmer is enough for a rolled breast of this size; test with a skewer, which should meet no resistance. The book's "full six hours" is far longer than the cut needs.
- The stewing liquidNo liquid is specified. Use the reserved bones, an onion, a carrot and enough water or light stock to come two-thirds up the roll, and keep it at 180-190F rather than a rolling boil, which squeezes the roll and pushes the stuffing out.
- "Light batter... stiffened with soaked bread-crumbs"This is a panade, not a pouring batter. Soak stale crumbs in the cream or milk, squeeze lightly, then bind with the eggs to a spreadable paste; it should hold its shape on a spoon.
- Cloth and tapesThe recipe calls for a cloth tied with tape. Butcher's twine at 1-inch intervals, or twine plus a double layer of cheesecloth, does the same job and is easier to unwrap.
- Pressing for cold vealPress it in the refrigerator, not at room temperature, with a board and a weight on top and the roll still in its cloth. A day chilled sets the gelatin so it slices cleanly.
- GlazeGlaze here means brushing on strong stock reduced to a syrup, not a sugar glaze. Reduce a cup of the strained cooking liquor to a couple of tablespoons and paint it on while the meat is still warm.
- MaceBlade mace and ground mace are both still sold; a scant quarter teaspoon of ground mace or nutmeg is plenty for this quantity of forcemeat.
- YieldA 4-5 lb boned breast serves eight to ten hot, more when pressed and sliced thin for a cold table.