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Broiled Veal Steak
Grease a gridiron well, put a steak of veal on it and broil over a clear fire, turning now and then. Chop fine four or five small fresh onions, put them in a saucepan with a little tomato catsup, a small quantity of thyme and one ounce of butter; fry them for a few minutes, then pour in one teacupful of broth and boil slowly for twenty minutes. When cooked and nicely browned put the veal stock on a hot dish with a lump of butter on it. Stir one tablespoonful of flour into the gravy, color it with a little browning, pour in a few drops of wine and stir over the fire until boiling fast. Pour the gravy over the veal, and serve with a dish of spinach or sorrel.
A grilled veal cutlet with a quick onion-and-catsup gravy, written for a coal grate. The only real trap is the veal itself: it is lean and unforgiving, and Oscar's "turning now and then" assumes a cook standing over live coals.
- What a "veal steak" isA thick slice cut across the leg or the round, roughly 3/4 to 1 inch, not a thin scaloppine. Ask for a veal leg steak or a thick cutlet; a shoulder chop of the same thickness behaves the same way on the grill.
- The hinge: heat and timeVeal has almost no intramuscular fat, so it dries out well before it looks done. Grill over a hot, ash-covered fire or a preheated ridged pan, about 4 minutes a side for a 1-inch steak, to 145F, then rest 5 minutes. Anything past medium turns it dry and fibrous.
- "A clear fire"Coals burned down past the flame and covered in grey ash, with no smoking or flare-up. On gas, that means high direct heat with the grate scraped and oiled, as the original says of the gridiron.
- Teacupful of brothPeriod teacups are not standardised; reckon it as somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 cup. Veal or light chicken stock suits the sauce better than beef.
- Fresh onionsMost likely young green onions with small white bulbs rather than dry storage onions, though the term is not precise. Four or five, chopped fine, is the right quantity; two shallots is a fair substitute.
- BrowningCommercial gravy browning, a caramel colouring sold by the bottle. Kitchen Bouquet or a teaspoon of dark soy does the same job; a well-browned onion base often makes it unnecessary.
- A likely misprint"Put the veal stock on a hot dish" should almost certainly read "veal steak." The steak goes on the hot platter with butter while the flour finishes the gravy.
- ThickeningA tablespoon of flour stirred dry into 3/4 cup of reduced gravy will lump. Work it into the butter at the frying stage, or slake it with a little cold stock before it goes in.
- YieldOne steak of this size serves one generously or two modestly. Spinach or sorrel is offered as the side; sorrel's acidity would cut the sweetness of the catsup gravy, though the recipe treats the two greens as interchangeable.
Oscar Tschirky's book appeared in 1896, and this is a plain grill dressed with the kind of sauce associated with American hotel cooking of the era: onions, herbs, stock, a bottled colouring, and tomato catsup used as a seasoning rather than a condiment. Catsup in cooked sauces was common through the nineteenth century, the bottled product being valued for its vinegar and spice as much as its tomato. Veal was more prominent on American menus then than now, as a by-product of the dairy herd, and cuts like the leg steak appeared where a cook today would reach for pork or chicken. Sorrel was a common market green in the period and has since largely disappeared from American groceries.