No. 109

Veal Udder

Tetine de Veau

Veal Udder is the fatty part covering a kernel of veal; remove it entirely, tie it up and cook in plenty of white broth; when done take it out, pull off the string and press it lightly under a weight. Pare and cut it either into strips, squares or bands, etc. It is used in forcemeats instead of butter, pass it twice through the machine, pound well and then pass through a sieve. The way to keep it is to leave it covered in a cool place or else cover over entirely with salt.

← No. 108 Axunge Elementary Methods No. 110 To Prepare Larding Pork →

For the Modern Kitchen

This is an ingredient preparation rather than a finished dish: Ranhofer is teaching you to turn a calf's udder into a firm white fat for forcemeats. Almost nothing about the procedure is difficult; the obstacle is sourcing.

The hinge: cook it to real tenderness, then press it coldThe hinge: cook it to real tenderness, then press it -- Udder is dense connective tissue and wants a long, gentle simmer at a bare tremble rather than a rolling boil, until a skewer meets no resistance; Ranhofer gives no time, only "when done." The pressing under a light weight, as he directs, firms it so that it can be pared, cut and pounded smoothly.
"White broth"Ranhofer's white broth is an unbrowned veal or poultry stock, seasoned but not reduced. Its job is to keep the udder pale, so avoid anything roasted or dark. Plain lightly salted water with an onion, a clove and a bay leaf does the same work.
"A kernel of veal"The phrase is obscure: Ranhofer says the udder is "the fatty part covering a kernel of veal," and elsewhere in the book "kernel" translates the French noix, a muscle cut. Either way, it is the fatty covering he wants, which is why the first instruction is to remove it entirely.
"The machine"A hand-cranked meat grinder. Two passes through the fine plate, then pounding, then a sieve — a food processor plus a fine drum sieve or tamis reaches the same silky state in far less time.
Sourcing, and what to use insteadCalf udder is not sold in American or British supermarkets and is rarely available even by special order, though butchers in France and Italy still handle it (tétine, tettina). Where a period forcemeat calls for it, unsalted butter is the substitute Ranhofer himself names, and blanched pork back fat gives a closer texture.
Why it was used at allCooked udder fat is neutral, very white, and — unlike butter — does not melt out and leave a quenelle greasy or grainy. That is the whole point of the ingredient, and it is worth knowing before you decide a substitute is adequate.
Ignore the keeping instructionsA cool larder and a blanket of salt were the 1894 options. This is a cooked, low-acid, high-moisture meat product: refrigerate it and use it within two or three days, or wrap tightly and freeze it. Salt on the outside does not protect the interior.

A Little History

The Epicurean (1894) is Charles Ranhofer's account of thirty-odd years running the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York, and its opening "Elementary Methods" section is a catalogue of the raw materials a classical French brigade expected to have on hand — axunge, larding pork, veal udder, glazes, panadas. Tétine de veau belongs to the older French charcutier's repertoire, where cooked udder was valued as a binding fat for quenelles and godiveau because it stayed firm and colourless under heat. That an American hotel kitchen was expected to butcher and poach its own udders says a good deal about how little of the calf was wasted and how much preparatory work sat behind a single line on a Delmonico's menu. The ingredient is still met with in French charcuterie and in Italian markets as tettina, but it largely dropped out of English-language cooking as butter and commercial fats displaced it.