No. 1522

Kernel of Veal with half-Glaze

Noix de Veau a la Demi-glace

Select a kernel of veal as white and fat as procurable; raise carefully with the tip of a knife the swollen skin covering a part of it, then lay it on the table and press the meat down with the left hand while slipping the blade of a very sharp knife between it and the skin, pressing the knife slightly against this skin; pare the meat all around into an oval shape, and lard the entire surface with medium-sized lardons (No. 2, Fig. 52). Three and a half hours before serving put some minced carrots, onions and slices of lean ham into a buttered deep sautoir, the kernel of veal on top and a pint of stock (No. 194a), let this come to a boil and reduce to a glaze; moisten again to two-thirds of its heighth with stock, cover with buttered paper, boil and place it in the oven, basting over occasionally; three-quarters of an hour before serving, remove the lid and paper covering the meat and glaze the latter. Dress the kernel and serve in a sauce-boat the stock passed through a silk sieve, the fat removed and reduced to a half-glaze.

← No. 1521 Kernel of Veal with Thickened Gravy Veal No. 1523 Small Kernels or Nuts with Macedoine →

For the Modern Kitchen

A classic braise dressed up with larding and a glaze. Ranhofer assumes a butcher who can hand you a whole veal cushion and a cook who can lard it; both are solvable with substitutions.

What a kernel of veal isNoix de veau is the cushion or top round from the inside of the hind leg, a single rounded muscle of about 4-6 lb with a tough membrane over part of it. Ask a butcher for veal top round or the leg cushion; a boneless veal sirloin roast behaves similarly.
The skin comes off firstThe "swollen skin" is the silverskin and fascia over the muscle. Lift one edge with a knife tip, then angle the blade slightly up into the membrane rather than down into the meat, and pull the flap taut with the other hand. Left on, it shrinks in the oven and cups the roast.
LardingLardons here are strips of firm pork back fat, cut to the medium size the book's own larding plate specifies (No. 2, Fig. 52), threaded through the surface with a larding needle. Back fat and larding needles are both still sold, but if neither is at hand, barding the roast with a sheet of caul fat or thin fatback tied on gives most of the benefit; veal leg is very lean and needs one or the other.
SautoirA sautoir is a straight-sided pan; "deep sautoir" here means a heavy braising pan or Dutch oven just large enough to hold the roast with the vegetables under it.
The two-stage moistening is the hingeThe first pint of stock is boiled down until the vegetables and meat catch a sticky brown film on the pan bottom -- that reduction to a glaze is what gives the finished sauce its colour and depth. Only then add more stock, to two-thirds up the roast. Skip the reduction and you get pale, thin gravy.
Oven and timeThe recipe names no oven temperature; a covered braise at around 325F is a reasonable modern equivalent. The three and a half hours before serving is the whole working span, not oven time; a 4-5 lb cushion will take roughly two and a half to three hours to become tender, with the last 45 minutes uncovered.
Glazing at the endUncovered for the final three-quarters of an hour, the meat is basted with the reducing liquid so it lacquers; Ranhofer says only 'occasionally'. The surface should end up glossy and deep brown, not dry.
Silk sieve and half-glazeA silk sieve is a sieve bottomed with fine silk mesh; a chinois lined with muslin does the job. Skim the fat thoroughly, then reduce the strained liquid until it coats a spoon. In this recipe the 'half-glaze' is the reduced braising stock itself, though the book also uses the term for its own reduced brown sauce.
YieldA whole cushion serves eight to ten. Carve across the grain in slices about 1/4 inch thick and nap with the sauce at the table.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York and published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of that kitchen's repertoire, which is why this entry sits in a numbered run of nearly identical veal cushions -- with thickened gravy, with half-glaze, with macedoine -- each a small variation for a different menu. Larded and braised veal leg was a staple of nineteenth-century service because the cut is lean, uniform and carves into neat rounds that hold their shape on a platter; the lardons compensate for fat the muscle does not have. The cross-references to numbered stocks and larding diagrams are typical of the book, which was written for professional cooks working from a shared larder rather than for a household buying ingredients one dish at a time.