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Roasted Loin of Veal
Saw the spine and whatever hipbone remains from a fine white, fresh fat loin of veal with the kidney. Season the loin with one and one-half tablespoonfuls of salt and one heaping teaspoonful of pepper, and roll the flank part neatly over the kidney, tying it with a string. Have in readiness a lightly buttered roastingpan, place the loin in it, pour in one wineglassful of water, and put a few bits of butter here and there over the meat, then cover its entire length with a piece of well-buttered paper. Place the pan in a moderate oven, and roast for one hour and three-quarters, basting it frequently meanwhile with its own gravy. Remove it from the oven, untie and place it on a hotwater dish. Add three tablespoonfuls of broth to the gravy in the pan, skim off the fat and reduce it to the consistency of half glaze. Strain it through a sieve, either over the roasted meat or into a sauceboat, and serve at once. Minced Veal, Turkish Style Mince fine three pounds of raw veal, put it into a saucepan with two ounces of butter, two tablespoonfuls of water, and one saltspoonful of salt, and stir it over the fire until the moisture has evaporated, and the mince is well browned. Peel and chop fine three onions and a small bunch of parsley from the stems; soak the crumb of a French roll in water. Mix all the ingredients together, season with salt and pepper and stir in sufficient beaten egg to form a rather stiff paste, working it well. Put two ounces of butter into a deep fryingpan, place it over the fire until hot, then pour in the mixture and fry it until nicely browned, turning it when done on one side and finishing the other. When cooked turn the cake of mincemeat onto an ornamental dish-paper on a hot plate, garnish with fried parsley, and serve at once.
A whole bone-in veal loin with the kidney attached is a butcher's special order today, and the roasting method assumes a cook who is at the oven constantly. Two recipes are run together here; the notes cover both.
- Moderate ovenRead this as roughly 325-350F. Depending on the size of the loin it may be done before the full hour and three-quarters, so go by an internal temperature of 145F and rest it 15 minutes.
- A wineglassfulAbout 2 fl oz, roughly a quarter cup. It is there to keep the pan from scorching, not to braise the meat; add more only if the pan runs dry.
- Buttered paperThe nineteenth-century equivalent of a foil tent. Buttered parchment works and lets the surface colour; foil will steam the fat cap unless you loosen it for the last half hour.
- Sawing the spineAsk the butcher to remove the chine and hipbone and to leave the flank on for rolling. Veal kidney in the loin has to be requested specifically; most retail veal loin arrives boneless and kidney-free.
- Half glazeReduce the skimmed pan juices until they coat a spoon and just begin to look syrupy — a demi-glace consistency. Three tablespoons of broth is a token addition; use a half cup or more if the pan yielded little.
- SaltspoonfulA quarter teaspoon. The salt in the veal mince is deliberately light because the bread and egg will be seasoned again later.
- The mince's hingeCooking the raw veal down until the moisture has gone and the meat browns is what gives the cake its flavour. If you stop while it is still grey and wet, the finished cake tastes boiled.
- The soaked crumbSqueeze the bread out hard before mixing. Wet bread will slacken the paste and the cake will break when you turn it — a wide spatula or a plate-flip helps with a three-pound cake.
- YieldThe recipe gives no weight for the loin, but one of the size implied will serve roughly 6-8. The veal cake, at three pounds of meat, serves about 6 as a main course.
Oscar Tschirky's 1896 book was written for a hotel kitchen where veal was ordinary, and where a butcher on the premises could break down a loin to order — hence the instruction to saw the spine. The pairing of a plain roast with a "Turkish style" mince is characteristic of Gilded Age hotel menus, where a scattering of national labels signalled range rather than any close relationship to the cooking of the place named; the dish as written, with onion, parsley, soaked bread and egg bound into a fried cake, is closer to a large flat kofta or a German Frikadelle than to anything specifically Ottoman. Veal loin with the kidney left in is known in French practice as the rognonnade, and the flank rolled over the kidney and tied is exactly that preparation.