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Shoulder of Veal
For the braised shoulder of veal the bones should be removed and the meat stuffed, using finely chopped onions in small quantity, a high seasoning of salt, pepper and thyme and sufficient melted beef drippings to moisten the bread crumbs; the prepared meat should be laid on a bed of thinly sliced carrots and a few slices of onion and a pint of boiling water poured in before covering the pan. Veal needs long slow cooking and four hours is not too much for a good sized shoulder.
A boned, stuffed shoulder braised on a bed of aromatics — the method is sound, but the original assumes a butcher at your disposal and a coal range that holds a low, even heat all afternoon.
- The hinge: keep it low and coveredVeal shoulder is a working muscle full of connective tissue, and it only turns tender once that collagen melts. Hold the oven at 300–325F with the pan tightly covered; a hard boil will squeeze the meat dry long before it becomes sliceable.
- Boning the shoulderAsk the butcher to bone and tie it, or to butterfly it for stuffing. Keep the bones and brown them alongside — they carry most of the gelatine that gives the braising liquid body.
- Beef drippingsThe rendered fat saved from roasts. Butter, or a spoonful of fat skimmed from stock, works the same way; the point is to moisten the crumbs enough that they steam rather than scorch.
- Bread crumbsPeriod crumbs meant stale, hand-grated bread with real texture, not the fine dry sand sold in canisters. Use day-old bread torn or grated coarsely, about 3 cups for a 4–5 lb shoulder, with a small onion, a teaspoon of thyme and a generous hand with salt and pepper.
- "A pint of boiling water"Two cups, poured in hot so the pan temperature does not crash. Stock or half stock and half dry white wine gives a far better sauce, and the liquid should come no more than a third of the way up the meat — this is a braise, not a poach.
- Four hoursReasonable for a large shoulder at a true low heat, but judge by feel rather than the clock. Start checking at two and a half hours: a skewer should slide in with no resistance, and the internal temperature will be well past the 145F minimum for veal by then.
- Finishing the panThe original stops at the cooking. Lift the meat out, rest it 15 minutes under foil, strain the liquid, skim the fat and reduce it hard — the carrot and onion will have given it sweetness and it needs concentrating.
- YieldA 4–5 lb boned shoulder with stuffing serves six to eight, and the cold leftovers slice cleanly the next day.
Shoulder was the thrifty end of the veal calf — cheaper than loin or the fashionable cutlets, awkwardly shaped, and full of the sinew that rewards a long braise rather than a quick fry. Boning and stuffing it turned an irregular cut into something that could be carried to the table whole and carved in neat rounds, which mattered where the joint was set before the head of the household and served in view of the guests, though service from a sideboard was also common. The bread stuffing does double duty: it fills the cavity the bones left behind and stretches a modest piece of meat across more plates. Veal appears often in American cookbooks, cooked by methods drawn from the French braisière — a heavy covered pan with liquid, root vegetables and slow heat — treated as a basic technique rather than a special occasion.