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Spiced Veal
Mrs. C. E. Brown.
Take four pounds veal, chop it fine and season highly with salt, pepper, cloves, and cinnamon; add four small crackers rolled out, one egg, and a lump of butter nearly the size of an egg; mix thoroughly together and press it in a baking tin, and bake two and a half hours. When thoroughly cold, slice for tea. Some prefer it in rolls, convenient for slicing, and baked from one-half to threequarters of an hour.
This is a veal loaf meant to be baked, chilled solid, and sliced cold for the tea table. The instructions assume a cook who knows what a loaf looks like when it is done, so the numbers below fill the gaps.
- Oven temperatureNone is given, and the recipe uses no oven term at all. A modern working figure for a loaf of this kind is a moderate oven, around 350F. At that heat two and a half hours for a four-pound loaf is long by modern standards; go by internal temperature instead.
- DonenessGround veal should reach 160F at the centre. In a loaf pan that will usually happen well inside two hours; the smaller rolls will get there in the half to three-quarters of an hour the recipe allows.
- Crackers"Four small crackers rolled out" means plain soda or water crackers crushed with a rolling pin, not sweet biscuits. Cracker sizes varied, so reckon on somewhere between a quarter and a half cup of fine crumbs; they are there to bind, and dry unseasoned breadcrumbs do the same job.
- Lump of butter nearly the size of an eggAbout 2 ounces, or 4 tablespoons. Veal is very lean and the loaf will slice dry without it.
- Season highlyTake this literally. The loaf is eaten cold, and cold food reads as blander than hot. For four pounds of meat start at about 4 teaspoons salt, a teaspoon of pepper, and a half teaspoon each of ground cloves and cinnamon, then fry a small patty to taste before baking the rest.
- Chopped fineIn 1876 this meant hand-chopping or a hand-cranked mincer. Ask a butcher for coarsely ground veal shoulder, or grind cubed shoulder yourself; pre-ground veal from a supermarket case is often too fine and packs into a dense loaf.
- The pressing and the coolingPressing the mixture firmly into the tin is what makes it hold together under a knife. Cool it completely, then refrigerate overnight with a weight on top before slicing.
- YieldFour pounds of meat makes a substantial loaf, enough for eight to twelve as a cold plate with pickles, mustard and bread.
Cold spiced meat loaves like this one were a staple of the American tea table in the 1870s, when the evening meal in many households was a light spread of cold sliced things rather than a cooked dinner. Veal was the natural choice: mild, pale, and gelatinous enough to set firm when chilled, so it cut cleanly. The warm spicing with cloves and cinnamon looks unusual now but was ordinary then, and is often read as a survival of the older English practice of "spiced beef" and potted meats, where the same aromatics served both to flavour and, it was generally believed, to help preserve. The Home Cook Book (Chicago, first edition generally dated to 1874, with later printings following) was compiled from contributions by named local women for the benefit of the Home for the Friendless, and recipes like Mrs. Brown's, credited by name and short on detail, are typical of the charity cookbook format: they were written by cooks for cooks who already knew the basics.