French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [213]
Cut each rasher of bacon into three strips lengthwise; roll these in salt and pepper; if you have no larding needle make three deep incisions lengthwise in the meat from both ends, and push the strips as far in as possible with a knife, so that, working from both ends, the meat will be larded right through. Cut the carrot into small cubes and chop the onion. In an oval earthenware or iron pot in which the meat will just about fit, melt a good lump of butter. Let the vegetables stew in this until they start to turn golden. Put in the veal and let it brown a little. Heat the wine and pour it over. Let it bubble and reduce a little. Add a good soup ladle of the stock. Cover the pot with foil or greaseproof paper, then the lid. Put in a slow oven, Gas No. 2, 310 deg. F., and cook for 2 hours or a little over. Remove the meat and the vegetables and leave them to cool. Pour the juice into another bowl and leave it to set, so that the fat can be easily removed. Heat the jelly in a saucepan until just melted, stir in a tablespoon each of very finely chopped tarragon and parsley, and taste for seasoning. Having cut the string from the meat and put it in a shallow bowl with the onions and carrot round it, pour the liquefied jelly over it. There will not be enough jelly to cover it but just sufficient to make a little sauce. Natural aspic jelly does not keep well in hot weather so it is useless to make a great deal. If preferred the jelly can be clarified by the usual process, with white of egg, the chopped herbs naturally being added afterwards, but although it will look more elegant, it will lose some of its flavour, and also diminish somewhat in volume. There should be plenty of meat for six people.
A salad of lettuce hearts with a mild dressing is the best accompaniment. And if the butcher cannot cut a noix of veal, a boned and rolled shoulder can be used.
DAUBE DE VEAU À L’ESTRAGON
VEAL STEWED WITH WHITE WINE AND TARRAGON
Buy about 3 lb. of the chump end of loin of veal (quasi de veau in French butchers’ terms) and have it boned and tied in a sausage shape. The other ingredients are a calf’s foot, split in two, a wine-glass of white wine and a small glass of brandy if possible, 2 tomatoes, an onion, 1 lb. of carrots, garlic and tarragon. If possible buy also from the butcher half a dozen strips of pork rind, which, as I have already explained in several recipes, are much used in these sort of dishes to give an extra gelatinous quality to the sauce.
Spike the meat with little pieces of garlic rolled in salt, pepper and chopped tarragon. Brown it in a mixture of oil and pork dripping; put it in an earthen or iron pot lined with the strips of pork rind. Add the sliced onion, also browned in dripping, 2 carrots, the tomatoes cut in half, a sprig of tarragon and the calf’s foot. Salt and pepper. Pour over the brandy and the wine and an equal quantity of water. Cover with two layers of greaseproof paper and the lid. Set in a low oven, Gas No. 2, 310 deg. F., and leave for at least 3 hours until the veal is absolutely tender.
Take out the meat and leave it to cool before removing the string. Put it in a deep dish, surround it with the whole carrots cooked separately (cooked in the daube they give too strong a carroty flavour to the sauce) and cool the strained sauce separately. When it has set to a jelly next day remove all traces of fat, melt it sufficiently to pour over the veal and leave to set again, incorporating a few fresh tarragon leaves for decoration. English veal does very well for this dish and there should be enough for six.
A plain lettuce and hard-boiled egg salad goes well with it.
ESCALOPES DE VEAU CAUCHOISE
ESCALOPES OF VEAL WITH CREAM, CALVADOS AND APPLE
I usually avoid escalopes of veal in French provincial restaurants, partly because there are usually more interesting dishes on the menu and partly because it seems to me that the French have a hard job of it to beat the Italian methods of combining veal with Parma ham and Parma cheese, but I was tempted by the description of this dish