No. 1546

Shoulder of Veal a la Bourguignotte

Epaule de Veau a la Bourguignotte

Bone the shoulder by splitting it on the side of the plate as far down as the handle without injuring the skin; when the bones are all removed, cut away all the sinews and fat; equalize the thickness of the meat; season it with salt and spices, and spread over it a layer of farce prepared with one pound of chopped veal, and one pound of fat pork, seasoned with salt, pepper, allspice, and bits of garlic. Roll it to an even thickness, tie it with ten rows of string making a separate knot at each turn, then wrap it up in several sheets of buttered paper, tie this well and roast the meat either in the oven or on a cradle spit. Unwrap it twenty minutes before serving to let attain a fine color; dress and garnish around with stuffed mushrooms (No. 650), serving with a sauce-boat of brown sauce (No. 414), and tarragon into which squeeze the juice of four lemons.

← No. 1545 Saddle of Veal and Chopped Lettuce-Larded Veal No. 1547 Slice of Round of Veal with Gravy →

For the Modern Kitchen

A boned, stuffed, rolled shoulder of veal — a galantine treated as a roast. The whole thing hinges on the boning: the skin must stay unbroken so the roll holds its shape and the forcemeat stays inside.

Size and yieldA veal shoulder may run roughly 6-9 lb bone-in, giving perhaps 4-5 lb of boned meat, though sizes vary; with two pounds of forcemeat added it will serve a dozen or so. Ask a butcher to bone it and leave the skin side intact if you would rather not split it yourself.
The farceOne pound chopped veal to one pound fat pork is a classic half-and-half forcemeat; use fatback or fresh unsalted pork belly, not cured bacon, or the salt compounds. Grind both cold and keep it cold. The "bits of garlic" are best finely minced so they distribute evenly through the farce.
Buttered paperLayers of paper brushed with butter and tied on, which shields the joint and keeps the surface from drying or crusting during the long roast. Parchment still works. Foil does the same job but seals more tightly, so drain the roll before the final browning.
Oven temperatureThe original gives none. Roast wrapped at about 325F, then unwrap for the last twenty minutes and raise to 425F for colour. Because the farce is raw ground pork and veal, take it to at least 160F at the centre of the stuffing; rest it 20 minutes before slicing.
The cradle spitA hinged basket spit that held a large joint over the fire and turned. A rotisserie attachment is the direct equivalent; otherwise the oven is what Ranhofer offers as the alternative himself.
TyingTen separate knots rather than one continuous spiral is deliberate — a single lace, once cut, releases the whole roll. Individual loops let you cut and remove string slice by slice at the table.
The cross-referencesNo. 650 is stuffed mushrooms; No. 414 is espagnole-based brown sauce. A good reduced veal or beef demi-glace stands in. Four lemons into a sauce-boat of sauce is aggressive by modern taste — add the juice of one, then adjust, and put the tarragon in off the heat so it keeps its scent.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after some three decades as chef at Delmonico's in New York, and the book reads as a working kitchen's complete reference: some three and a half thousand numbered preparations that cross-reference one another, as this one does. "À la bourguignotte" is not the Burgundian garnish of onions and lardons that à la bourguignonne implies; a bourguignotte was a helmet, and the name has sometimes been explained as a nod to the shape of the tied, wrapped joint rather than to any regional cooking, though the dish name itself is poorly documented. Boning a shoulder and reconstructing it around forcemeat was standard high-kitchen practice of the period — it turned an awkward, sinewy, cheap cut into something that could be carved in neat rounds at a banquet table, and it let a chef stretch one shoulder across a dozen covers. Veal itself was far more central to nineteenth-century American restaurant cooking than it is now, and Ranhofer devotes dozens of numbers to it.# The buttered-paper wrap was one of several ways to keep a long-roasting joint from drying before the age of reliable oven thermostats, alongside barding and basting.