No. 1496

Veal Cutlets Plain and a la Georgina

Cotelettes de Veau Nature et a la Georgina

Have a rack of very white veal containing four covered ribs; bone the chain of the spine and saw off the rib bones from the beginning of the spine; trim the chops thus obtained, flatten them lightly and pare them rounded at the angles; season with salt, lay them in melted butter. Twenty minutes before serving broil them on a slow, well maintained fire to let them acquire a good color; it will require from sixteen to eighteen minutes to cook them to perfection, turning them over after they have been on eight or nine minutes. Dress them on hot dishes, pour some clear gravy over and serve.

A, la Georgina.—Dress the cutlets crown-shape and garnish around or in the center with risot and parmesan cheese, and minced mushrooms in the center. Around the risot place artichoke bottoms cut in two and fried in butter. Pour into the bottom of the dish some light gravy, and serve a tomato sauce and half-glaze sauce mixed separately.

← No. 1495 Veal Cutlets a la Chipolata Veal No. 1497 Veal Cutlets a la Seymour →

For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes a butcher's rack and a live coal grill; both translate easily. The dish is really two recipes — plain broiled rib chops, and the same chops plated as a garnished crown.

The cut"A rack of very white veal containing four covered ribs" is a four-bone rib rack of milk-fed veal, the eye still covered with its fat and meat. Ask for veal rib chops cut about 1 to 1 1/4 inches thick and the work of boning the chine and sawing the ribs is already done.
"Bone the chain of the spine"The chain is the strip of muscle and connective tissue running along the outside of the rack; Ranhofer separately has you saw the rib bones free of the spine. Taking both off should let the chops sit flat and cook evenly.
Temperature, not minutesSixteen to eighteen minutes suits a thick chop over moderate coals, but thickness varies too much to trust the clock. Pull the chops at 140-145F at the bone and rest them five minutes; veal past 155F turns dry and grainy, which is exactly what this recipe is trying to avoid.
"A slow, well maintained fire"Steady, moderate heat: coals burned down to an even grey rather than a fierce fire. Butter-coated veal over a fierce fire will blacken before the center is warm.
RisotRanhofer's "risot" is risotto, here cooked firm and bound with grated Parmesan so it holds a mounded shape on the platter. Make it stiffer than you would serve it on its own.
Half-glazeSauce demi-glace, a reduced brown sauce. "Clear gravy" and "light gravy" appear to mean an unthickened veal jus rather than a flour gravy. Ranhofer's "mixed separately" is ambiguous: the tomato and half-glaze may be blended together, but either way the sauce goes to the table apart from the meat.
Artichoke bottomsTrimmed artichoke hearts with the leaves and choke removed. Good-quality jarred or frozen bottoms, drained and patted dry, brown properly in butter; canned hearts in brine are usually too soft.
Crown-shapeThe chops are stood on a round platter with the rib bones angled outward and overlapping, so the frenched bones form the points of a crown. Ask the butcher to french the bones if you want that look.
YieldFour chops from a four-rib rack: two generous or four modest servings, depending on how much risotto and artichoke goes around them.

A Little History

This is No. 1496 of Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the enormous record of what came out of the Delmonico's kitchens in New York, where Ranhofer was chef in two separate spells. The pairing of a plain preparation with a dressed-up one on the same page is characteristic of the book: nature means simply broiled and sent out with its own gravy, while the à la Georgina version turns the same four chops into a garnished centerpiece with rice, cheese, mushrooms, artichokes and two sauces. Ranhofer named dozens of dishes after patrons, singers and society figures, and "Georgina" may honor one of them, though the book does not say who. What the entry really shows is the period's taste for very pale milk-fed veal as a mark of quality — and the American habit of building a dish around a garnish, an approach Escoffier would shortly begin pruning back in France.