No. 1547

Slice of Round of Veal with Gravy

Rouelle de Veau au Jus

The round is a piece of veal cut across through the thickness of the thigh, having it about two to three inches thick; lard it with lardons (No. 2, Fig. 52). Put a quarter of a pound of butter in a low saucepan, then the slice of veal, and fry it till it attains a fine golden color, then moisten with a gill of stock (No. 194a) and the same quantity of white wine; add a bunch of parsley garnished with bay leaf, half a pound of minced carrots, an onion with two cloves, whole peppers, and salt, set it in the oven to bake slowly for an hour and a quarter, basting it over frequently, then glaze the meat and strain the juice; free it from fat, reduce it to a proper degree and pour it around the dressed slice, serving it very hot.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A straightforward braise: a thick cross-cut steak from the veal leg, browned in butter and finished in a covered pan in a low oven with wine, stock and aromatics. Two things decide the result — the larding and the low, slow heat.

The cutA rouelle is the whole leg cut across the bone, two to three inches thick — essentially a round of veal steak with the marrow bone in the centre. A butcher will cut this from a veal leg on request; a boneless veal round roast of 3-4 lb behaves much the same, though the bone adds body to the juices.
Larding is not optionalVeal round is very lean and this cut has no fat cap. Threading strips of pork fatback through the meat with a larding needle is what keeps it from drying out over an hour and a quarter. Without a larding needle, bard the slice instead: tie sheets of fatback or unsmoked bacon over both faces.
A gillHalf a cup, 4 fl oz. So half a cup of stock and half a cup of white wine — a modest amount of liquid, which is the point. This is a braise in its own juices, not a stew.
"Bake slowly"Ranhofer gives no temperature; a low oven, in modern terms somewhere around 300-325F, answers the instruction. He does not say to cover the pan. The liquid should never do more than tremble; a hard simmer tightens lean veal into strings.
Stock No. 194aRanhofer cross-references one of his stock recipes; what the dish wants is a light, lightly seasoned veal or poultry stock. A good low-sodium chicken stock is the nearest thing; avoid dark beef stock, which will overpower the dish.
Whole peppersPeppercorns, added whole so they can be strained out with the vegetables. Six or eight is enough for this quantity.
Glazing the meatTo glaze is to brush the meat with reduced glaze or pan juices and give it a moment in a hot oven or under the broiler until the surface shines. Ranhofer glazes before straining the juice; if you prefer, strain and defat first so the coating is glossy rather than greasy.
Reducing the sauceHalf a cup of liquid plus the wine and the juices the meat gives up will not be much once strained — expect a scant cup. Reduce until it coats a spoon and pour it around the meat, not over it, so the glaze stays bright.
YieldA three-inch slice of veal round serves four to six. Serve it hot; the gelatine in the juices sets quickly once it cools.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer's The Epicurean (1894) set down the repertoire of Delmonico's in New York, and the veal section runs to dozens of preparations. The rouelle — from the Old French for a little wheel, describing the round shape of the cross-cut leg — was a standard butcher's cut in France and appears in French cookery books long before Ranhofer, usually braised in exactly this way. Larding with strips of pork fat is often said to have been a common answer to lean meat before reliable low-temperature ovens existed, and it survives here as a matter of technique rather than necessity. Au jus in this period means what it says: the cooking liquid, strained, skimmed and reduced, with no thickening and no separate sauce built alongside.