No. 1541

Quarter of Veal, Scotch Style

Quartier de Veau a l'Ecossaise

Choose a haunch of veal from a very white calf; pare and saw off a piece of the shine bone and trim like a leg of mutton, then wrap the meat up in several sheets of paper; lay it in an English cradle spit (Fig. 116), and let cook before a moderate fire from one hour and a half to two hours; unwrap and finish cooking until a fine color; salt it over, remove it from the spit and pare the end bone. Dress the meat on a large oval dish, decorate it with a paper frill cut out and curled, pour over some clear gravy (No. 404), and garnish around with boiled carrots, turnips, and string beans; serve gravy in a sauce-boat separately.

← No. 1540 Veal Palates, Epicurean Style Veal No. 1542 Rack of Veal a l'Albani →

For the Modern Kitchen

A whole roast haunch of veal turned before an open fire, dressed in the plainest possible way. The method translates to a rotisserie or a low oven, but the timing in the original assumes a small milk-fed calf and a cook standing over the fire.

Use a thermometer, not the clockThe original's hour and a half to two hours covers only the wrapped stage, with further time after unwrapping to take colour, and even so it assumes a small milk-fed calf. A modern bone-in haunch can be large. Roast to an internal temperature of 145-150F at the thickest point away from the bone, then rest 20-30 minutes; on a big bone-in leg that may take 3 hours or more at around 325F.
The paper wrappingSeveral sheets of paper (the recipe does not say whether greased) shielded the surface from the radiant fire so the interior could cook through before the outside scorched. Heavy parchment or a loose foil tent does the same job in an oven; remove it for the last 30-40 minutes to take colour.
Cradle spit, and what to do insteadThe English cradle spit was a hinged basket that clamped a large joint and turned it before the fire. A rotisserie attachment handles a leg of this size if your motor is rated for the weight; otherwise roast on a rack in a large pan at 325F, turning the joint twice.
"Shine bone"Probably a slip for shin bone (chine is also possible): a piece of bone is sawn off so the haunch can be trimmed to the compact shape of a leg of mutton. Ask the butcher to saw it and to leave a clean handle of bone, since the recipe finishes by paring the end bone for the frill.
"A very white calf"This means milk-fed veal, prized in the period for pale flesh and mild flavour. Pale milk-fed veal is still sold, alongside pinker grain- or pasture-raised veal, which is stronger in flavour; either can be roasted this way.
A moderate fireNot an oven setting; if you are roasting in an oven, something in the region of 325-350F is a reasonable stand-in. The original says only to unwrap and finish cooking until a fine colour, without specifying more heat.
The gravyNo. 404 is the clear gravy the recipe cross-references in Ranhofer. A well-reduced, degreased and seasoned veal stock, left unthickened, is the practical modern equivalent, served in a sauce-boat as the original directs.
SeasoningIn the original the meat is salted only after unwrapping, near the end; no reason is given. For oven roasting, salting the surface an hour or more ahead gives better crust and seasoning throughout.
Yield and serviceThe original gives no yield; a whole haunch is a joint for a large table. Carve in long slices parallel to the bone, and, as the recipe directs, garnish the carrots, turnips and beans around the platter rather than under the meat.

A Little History

This comes from Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894), the enormous compendium of the food he served at Delmonico's in New York, where a roast haunch was a dish for a large table. The name a l'Ecossaise is used loosely in nineteenth-century French service; here it signals the Scottish and English treatment of a large joint, trimmed like a leg of mutton, roasted before the fire on a cradle spit rather than braised in the French manner, and sent out with clear gravy and plain boiled roots instead of a sauce. The paper frill on the bone end and the oval platter belong to the same tradition of the carved joint presented whole at table. That Ranhofer still specifies an open-fire cradle spit in the 1890s is worth noticing: the closed range had long since taken over most professional cooking, but it is often said that roasting before a fire gave a flavour and a surface that an oven could not, and grand hotel kitchens seem to have kept the equipment for exactly this sort of set-piece.