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Roulade of Veal, Bourgeoise
Procure a three-pound piece flank of veal twice the length of width, trim off the fat, split in two without separating, and season with a teaspoon salt and half teaspoon white pepper. Place in a mortar three skinned raw sausages, one ounce fresh bread crumbs, one saltspoon thyme, one teaspoon freshly chopped parsley, one ounce cooked lean ham cut into small pieces; one raw egg, one saltspoon grated nutmeg, a half teaspoon salt, one saltspoon cayenne pepper and six finely chopped shallots; pound all these articles to a paste and evenly spread the paste all over the inside of the veal, roll it up and firmly tie with string. Heat two tablespoons lard in a braising pan, lay the veal in pan and gently brown on the range for twenty minutes or until a nice golden colour, turning it once in a while. Scoop out with a Parisian potato scoop three medium, scraped carrots and two peeled white turnips, add to the veal, with twelve small, peeled white onions, brown for five minutes more, then moisten with a half pint each white broth and tomato sauce and one gill demi-glace. Tie in a bunch three branches parsley, one branch chervil, one bean garlic, two cloves, one sprig thyme, one bay leaf, and add to the pan. Cover and set in the oven for forty minutes, turning and frequently basting it. Remove, dress the veal on a large hot dish; untie, then add three tablespoons of canned green peas to the pan, reduce for ten minutes, lift up the bouquet, pour all the contents of the pan over the veal, sprinkle a little parsley over and serve.
A stuffed, braised veal roll with a classic bourgeoise garnish. The original assumes a butcher who will cut veal flank and a cook who knows what a moderate oven is; both need filling in.
- The cutVeal flank in this sense is a thin, rectangular sheet from the belly or breast, butterflied ("split in two without separating") so it opens flat. Ask for a boned veal breast, trimmed and butterflied to about 3 lb; a boned shoulder pounded flat also works.
- Oven temperatureNone is given. A covered braise of this kind belongs at 325-350F, hot enough to keep the liquid at a bare simmer and no hotter.
- Timing is the weak pointForty minutes will not tenderize a tied 3 lb veal roll. Plan on 1 1/2 to 2 hours covered, until a skewer slides through the meat with no resistance and the stuffing has reached 165F. The raw sausage in the filling makes that internal reading worth taking.
- Small measuresA saltspoon is 1/4 teaspoon. A gill is half a cup. "Half pint each" of broth and tomato sauce is one cup each, so the braising liquid comes to about 2 1/2 cups.
- White broth and demi-glaceWhite broth is unbrowned veal or chicken stock. Demi-glace is reduced brown stock; a few tablespoons of good commercial demi-glace or 1/2 cup of stock reduced hard will do the same job of giving the sauce body.
- Parisian potato scoopA melon baller. The carrots and turnips are cut into small even spheres so they cook at the same rate and look deliberate; dice of the same size is a fair substitute.
- Vegetables and the bouquetTurnips and small onions will be soft long before the meat is. Add them for the last 45 minutes rather than at the start, and add the peas only in the final reduction as written. "One bean garlic" is a single clove, tied into the herb bundle and discarded with it.
- Mortar workA food processor makes the forcemeat in seconds, but pulse rather than puree; the ham and sausage should still show. Chill the filling before spreading, or it will slump out of the roll while you tie it.
- YieldSix generous servings. Rest the roll ten minutes before slicing so the forcemeat sets and the slices hold together.
À la bourgeoise denotes a homely braise, garnished here with carrots, turnips and small onions, as opposed to the truffled and crayfished garnishes of grande cuisine; the classic codified bourgeoise garnish is usually given as glazed carrots, glazed onions and lardons, so this version varies from it. The dish here is a roulade, from the French rouler, to roll — a thin sheet of meat spread with forcemeat, rolled and tied, a technique that let a cook stretch a modest quantity of veal and give every slice a decorative spiral. Veal flank and breast were cheap cuts precisely because they demanded this kind of labour. The canned green peas at the end suggest a printed cookbook of the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, by which time tinned peas were a year-round pantry staple.