No. 319

Knuckle of Veal a la Briand

Jarrets de Veau a la Briand

Put into a stockpot eight quarts of broth with eight pounds of knuckle of veal; boil the liquid, skim, and then add to it six leeks, two celery roots, a bunch of parsley, and a freshly roasted young pullet weighing three pounds, continue to boil till the meat is all cooked. After the knuckles are done, bone them and set the meat under a weight to flatten it down to one quarter of an inch in thickness, and when cold cut it up into quarter of an inch squares. Take the chicken out of the soup as soon as it is cooked, and set it away to cool, then cut off all the meat, omitting the skin and bones, and cut this meat into quarter of inch squares. Skim the fat from the stock, strain it through a sieve, and return it to the saucepan, having previously washed it, add the squares of chicken and veal to this, and let the whole simmer for half an hour, with the addition of four ounces of rice, blanched and cooked in consomme, half a pound of lean, cooked ham, cut into quarter of inch squares, and eight tomatoes, plunged into boiling water; peel off the skin then cut into four, and squeezed lightly so as to remove the seeds; boil again for twenty minutes, skim and season the soup to taste and serve very hot. Braised lettuce as explained for Garbure soup (No. 310) to be served in a separate vegetable dish.

← No. 318 Julienne Soup Faubonne and Mogul Soups & Broths No. 320 Lamb or Veal Sweetbread Soup, German Style →

For the Modern Kitchen

A clear veal broth built on Ranhofer's own stock, finished as a garnished consommé of diced veal, chicken, ham, rice and tomato. The quantities are restaurant-scale and the method depends on pulling each meat out the moment it is done.

Yield and scalingEight quarts of broth plus eight pounds of veal and a whole bird gives something on the order of twenty to twenty-four portions. Quartering everything — 2 quarts broth, 2 lb veal knuckle, a single chicken leg-and-thigh quarter, 1 oz rice, 2 oz ham, two tomatoes — produces five or six servings and behaves the same way.
Knuckle of vealThis is the shank, sold now as veal osso buco or veal shank, bone in. Ask for it cross-cut or whole; the gelatin from the joint is the point, and boneless veal will give a thin, characterless broth.
PulletA young hen of about three pounds. A 3 to 3½ lb roasting chicken is the direct substitute. The bird is roasted before it goes into the pot, which adds browned flavor from the skin and bones even though the skin itself is discarded when the meat is diced.
Celery rootsCeleriac, two bulbs, peeled and halved. Celery stalks are not a substitute in flavor terms, though a large head of celery will do at a pinch.
Take the chicken out earlyThe chicken is cooked through long before eight pounds of veal shank are tender — count 45 minutes to an hour against two to three hours for the veal. Left in the pot it turns to dry thread and gives you nothing to dice.
Pressing the vealBone the hot shanks, lay the meat between two sheets of parchment on a tray, put a second tray and a few cans on top, and chill. Cold pressed meat cuts into clean quarter-inch dice; warm meat shreds.
Rice cooked separatelyBlanching the rice and cooking it in consommé keeps the finished soup clear. Rice simmered directly in the broth releases starch and clouds it, which defeats the whole exercise.
TomatoesThirty seconds in boiling water loosens the skins; quarter, then squeeze out the seeds and jelly so only the flesh goes in. Twenty minutes is enough to soften them without breaking them down into sauce.
Seasoning lastSalt only after the final skimming. The broth reduces through several hours of simmering, and a ham dice adds its own salt as it heats.
The lettuceThe recipe cross-refers to the braised lettuce given with Ranhofer's Garbure soup (his No. 310). It is served alongside in a separate vegetable dish rather than in the bowl, so it can be omitted without harm.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer published The Epicurean in 1894 after some three decades in charge of the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York, and the soup chapter reads as an inventory of a working brigade: dozens of numbered variations on the same few base broths, each distinguished by its garnish rather than its liquid. This one belongs to the family of clear soups garnished with neat dice of meat, and its structure, veal shank for body and a roasted bird for flavor, is straight out of nineteenth-century professional practice. Ranhofer named a great many dishes for patrons, politicians and public figures, and the à la Briand here may be one of those dedications rather than a regional style; he offers no explanation, as he rarely does.