A Handbook of Cookery for a Small House

by Jessie Conrad

VEAL AND PORK

Roasting. Boiling

General Remarks

Fillet	5 to 6 lbs.	2 to 2½ hours.
Shoulder	half shoulder from 7 to 9 lbs.	2 to 2¾ hrs.
Loin	4 lbs.	1 hour.

If fillet piece is too large to cook for one joint you may cut off a slice one and a half inches thick, horizontally, to be used later either as veal cutlets or for veal olives.

For dishing and obtaining gravy and dripping proceed as for beef.

Generally speaking, a piece of veal wants a longer time for cooking than a piece of beef or mutton of the same size.

101. Veal Cutlets

Chop off the long bones of two pounds of veal cutlets and put them to stew in a stone saucepan with a little salt to make gravy. Melt an ounce of fresh butter or dripping in an enamelled frying pan in the stove with the top off and lay the cutlets in it. Fry briskly for ten minutes turning once or twice. Replace the stove top and cook for another twenty minutes. Place on a dish, pour the gravy already made over them, and serve.

102. Stuffed Fillet of Veal

Take about three pounds of veal cut rather flat, score it several times with a sharp knife. Lay the sage and onion stuffing (as per recipe [40]) on it and cover with flare or a buttered paper. Tie it with string, put it into a baking tin, and bake for one and a half hours. Place on a hot dish and pour the gravy over.

103. Roast Pork

A small leg of pork or about four pounds of loin must be scored on the outside with a sharp knife. Put it into a baking tin and put in the oven for two to two and a half hours. Dish up and treat the dripping as directed for beef or mutton. Serve with onion or apple sauce.

104. Boiled Shoulder of Pork

Put into boiling water without salt, and boil for one and a half hours if only half a shoulder; for two hours if whole.

105. Boiled Ham

Must be put into boiling water. If a whole ham, boil for three to three and a half hours. Let it steam for a few minutes on a dish (with a strainer under it) and then roll in baked breadcrumbs. Never put the paper collar on the knuckle till thoroughly cold.

106. Blanquette de Veau

Take two pounds of breast of veal, cut it in squares about two inches, put into a saucepan, cover with cold water, add a large pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then skim carefully. Add one whole onion stuck with four cloves, one carrot cut in halves, a teacupful of white wine, a bouquet of laurel, thyme, and parsley. Cook for half an hour, then strain the meat and keep the stock boiling. Mix two ounces of butter with the same of flour quite smoothly, stir it in the boiling stock while over the fire. The resulting sauce must be perfectly smooth and not too thick. Put the meat without the vegetables or herbs back into the saucepan and continue to cook for an hour and a half till quite tender, taking the greatest care that it should not burn. Stir the yolks of two eggs and half an ounce of butter and the juice of a lemon together and add it to the meat in the saucepan. Bring to a boil. Arrange the meat in a deep dish and pour the sauce over it. Surround the whole with six croutons of bread cut in the form of triangles and fried a golden brown, in butter.

107. Calf’s Head

Half a calf’s head is more than enough for three or four persons. The best plan is to soak the head in a bowl of cold water and a little salt all night, previously removing the brains. It will take from two and a half to three hours’ gentle boiling and care must be taken that the cooking vessel is large enough to allow the head to lie flat and the water to cover it. It must be put into cold water with a good piece of salt, a knob of loaf sugar, one onion (large and whole), two carrots (whole), and two teacupfuls of white wine. Serve with the meat carefully removed from the bone, either cold with ravigote sauce or with the cooked vegetables cut into small squares and a few button mushrooms which have been cooked in the stock. Arrange this on the dish and pour over it the following brown gravy: Fry lightly two slices of onion in a little butter allowing it to get brown a little. Add some of the stock from the head, a few drops of A. 1. sauce, and a good teaspoonful of bovril, or meat juice from some other joint. Thicken with a little mixed flour and water, pour into the frying pan, bring to a boil and strain over the meat and vegetables in the dish. The brains may be cooked separately and beaten into this gravy after it is strained.

108. Calf’s Feet

Calf’s feet are of great use in the cooking for invalids. Soak as for calf’s head over night. Put into a saucepan with cold water and a good piece of salt, one onion whole and one whole carrot. This will make an excellent soup served with the meat cut into nice little pieces and the vegetables cut as directed for calf’s head. But if the feet are intended for jelly it is better to omit the vegetables. Half a pint of good port wine can be added to the stock after it is cooked. Before straining add a teacupful of cold water to clear it.

109. Pig’s Trotters

Pig’s trotters can be served as an addition to a dish of tripe and onions in which case they require soaking over night as they would be already salted. Boil them without salt until tender and add to the cooked tripe. As a separate dish you must, when cooked, roll them in a freshly beaten egg and then in baked breadcrumbs and fry a golden brown in a little butter.