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Veal Loaf
1 lb. lean cold roast veal lb. cooked chopped bacon 2 pounded crackers I well-beaten egg 1 teaspoonful salt 1 teaspoonful mace 1 teaspoonful pepper
The book gives the formula but not the method, which was normal in leftover cookery of the period — the assumption is that the cook already knows to bind, pack and bake it. A few of the quantities have also come through the printing badly.
- Missing methodChop or grind the veal fine, mix it with the bacon, crumbs, egg and seasonings, pack tightly into a small loaf pan, and bake at 350F for about 45 minutes until firm and heated through to 165F. Packing it tightly matters more than anything else here; a loose loaf of dry cooked meat crumbles when sliced.
- The bacon quantity is missingThe original reads "lb. cooked chopped bacon" with the fraction dropped in printing. A quarter pound is the sensible reading for a one-pound loaf; a half pound would make it very fat-heavy.
- "I" means 1The capital I in "I well-beaten egg" stands for the numeral 1. The salt, mace and pepper are all printed as 1.
- Pounded crackersSoda or water crackers crushed fine. Crackers of this kind were generally larger than a modern saltine, so two of them would give more crumbs than two saltines; roughly 1/2 cup of crumbs is a reasonable modern equivalent, and it is worth cutting the added salt if you use saltines.
- A teaspoon of mace is a lotMore than most modern palates want, and freshly ground mace is likely to be more pungent than older pre-ground spice; start at 1/2 teaspoon. A full teaspoon of black pepper is also assertive; 1/2 teaspoon suits most palates.
- It needs moistureOne egg will not bind a pound of already-cooked, already-dried roast meat. Add 1/3 to 1/2 cup of stock, leftover gravy or cream until the mixture just holds together when squeezed.
- Twice-cooked meatThe veal is already cooked, so the bake is only setting the loaf and heating it. Longer baking dries it out with no benefit — cover the pan for the first half if your oven runs hot.
- YieldAbout a 1-lb loaf: four servings hot, or more sliced cold for sandwiches. Serving such loaves cold in slices was common.
Veal loaf belongs to the era of American loaf cookery of the later nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when chopped meat bound with cracker crumbs and egg was pressed into a pan, baked, and often served cold in slices — a forerunner of the later meatloaf made with beef and pork. Veal suited the treatment: mild, gelatinous, and prone to drying out on a second appearance at table, so it was better disguised in a bound loaf than reheated as slices. The bacon supplies the fat that roast veal lacks, and mace was a common seasoning for veal in English and American kitchens of the period, appearing in veal pies, forcemeats and potted veal alike. That the book prints only an ingredient list suggests the method was taken as assumed knowledge and the ratio was the useful part.