SMALL PAIN DE VEAU, OR, VEAL CAKE.
Chop separately and very fine, a pound and a quarter of veal quite free from fat and skin, and six ounces of beef kidney-suet; add a teaspoonful of salt, a full third as much of white pepper and of mace or nutmeg, with the grated rind of half a lemon, and turn the whole well together with the chopping-knife until it is thoroughly mixed; then press it smoothly into a small round baking dish, and send it to a moderate oven for an hour and a quarter. Lift it into a clean hot dish, and serve it plain, or with a little brown gravy in a tureen. Three ounces of the lean of a boiled ham minced small, will very much improve this cake, of which the size can be increased at will, and proportionate time allowed for dressing it. If baked in a hot oven, the meat will shrink to half its proper size, and be very dry. When done, it should be of a fine light brown, and like a cake in appearance.
Veal, 1-1/4 lb.; beef-suet, 6 oz.; salt, 1 teaspoonful; pepper and mace, or nutmeg, 3/4 teaspoonful each; rind of 1/2 lemon; ham (when added) 3 oz.; baked 1-1/4 hour.
BORDYKE VEAL CAKE.
(Good.)
Take a pound and a half of veal perfectly clear of fat and skin, and eight ounces of the nicest striped bacon; chop them separately, then mix them well together with the grated rind of a small lemon, half a teaspoonful of salt, a fourth as much of cayenne, the third part of a nutmeg grated, and a half-teaspoonful of freshly pounded mace When it is pressed into the dish, let it be somewhat higher in the centre than at the edge; and whether to be served hot or cold, lift it out as soon as it comes from the oven, and place it on a strainer that the fat may drain from it; it will keep many days if the under side be dry. The bacon should be weighed after the rind, and any rust it may exhibit, have been trimmed from it. This cake is excellent cold, better indeed than the preceding one; but slices of either, if preferred hot, may be warmed through in a Dutch oven, or on the gridiron, or in a few spoonsful of gravy. The same ingredients made into small cakes, well floured, and slowly fried from twelve to fifteen minutes, then served with gravy made in the pan as for cutlets, will be found extremely good.
Veal, 1-1/2 lb.; striped bacon, 8 oz.; salt and mace, 1 teaspoonful each; rind of lemon, 1; third of 1 nutmeg; cayenne, 4 grains; baked 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour.
FRICANDEAU OF VEAL. (ENTRÉE).
French cooks always prefer for this dish, which is a common one in their own country, that part of the fillet to which the fat or udder is attached;[[76]] but the flesh of the finer part of the neck or loin, raised clear from the bones, may be made to answer the purpose nearly or quite as well, and often much more conveniently, as the meat with us is not divided for sale as in France; and to purchase the entire fillet for the sake of the fricandeau would render it exceedingly expensive. Lay the veal flat upon a table or dresser, with the skin uppermost, and endeavour, with one stroke of an exceedingly sharp knife, to clear this off, and to leave the surface of the meat extremely smooth; next lard it thickly with small lardoons, as directed for a pheasant (page [181]), and make one or two incisions in the underside with the point of a knife, that it may the better imbibe the flavour of the seasonings. Take a stewpan, of sufficient size to hold the fricandeau, and the proper quantity of vegetables compactly arranged, without much room being left round the meat. Put into it a couple of large carrots, cut in thick slices, two onions of moderate size, two or three roots of parsley, three bay leaves, two small blades of mace, a branch or two of lemon thyme, and a little cayenne, or a saltspoonful of white peppercorns. Raise these high in the centre of the stewpan, so as to support the meat, and prevent its touching the gravy. Cover them with slices of very fat bacon, and place the fricandeau gently on them; then pour in as much good veal broth, or stock, as will nearly cover the vegetables without reaching to the veal. A calf’s foot, split in two, may with advantage be laid under them in the first instance. Stew the fricandeau very gently for upwards of three hours, or until it is found to be extremely tender when probed with a fine skewer or a larding-pin. Plenty of live embers must then be put on the lid of the stewpan for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, to render the lardoons firm. Lift out the fricandeau and keep it hot; strain and reduce the gravy very quickly, after having skimmed off every particle of fat; glaze the veal, and serve it on a ragout of sorrel, cucumbers, or spinach. This, though rather an elaborate receipt, is the best we can offer to the reader for a dish, which is now almost as fashionable with us as it is common on the Continent. Some English cooks have a very summary method of preparing it; they merely lard and boil the veal until they can “cut it with a spoon.” then glaze and serve it with “brown gravy in the dish.” This may be very tolerable eating, but it will bear small resemblance to the French fricandeau.
[76]. Called by them the noix.