French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [217]
Personally, I think this dish is best eaten cold, and is certainly more economical that way. Cut in the finest possible slices and served with a salad it should be enough for three meals for four people. The sauce should be strained and left to set to a jelly. Remove the fat from the top and put the chopped jelly round the meat. This dish should not cost more than ten shillings,1 including the wine and the ingredients for the stuffing, and provides a good demonstration of how a little extra trouble with a cheap cut of meat is amply repaid.
TENDRONS DE VEAU MARENGO
BREAST OF VEAL STEWED WITH TOMATOES
The Marengo fashion of cooking veal calls for ingredients and methods very similar to those of the famous Milanese ossi buchi. Allow two tendrons, or côtelettes parisiennes; cut as explained on page 370 (they are also shown, in the dish, in the drawing on page 368), weighing about 6 oz. each, for each person. A sliced onion and a clove of garlic are first gently cooked in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, then removed while the meat is browned on each side. For four tendrons a coffee-cupful of white wine and 2 tablespoons of stock are then added, plus 1 lb. of tomatoes chopped but unskinned, the onion and garlic returned to the pan, seasonings and a bouquet put in, the pan covered and the whole cooked 1 to 2 hours.
1 Those were 1960 prices. Now (1965) it will cost about three shillings more. The meat is then kept hot in the serving dish while the sauce is sieved and reheated. Pour it round the meat and serve very hot.
The dish is much improved by an unorthodox addition of finely-chopped parsley, lemon peel and garlic sprinkled over it before serving. Rice can be served with it, although small glazed onions, mushrooms and triangles of bread fried in oil are the traditional garnishes. Tendrons must always be very well cooked indeed; the meat and sauce should have that slightly sticky quality characteristic of stewed veal.
AÏLLADE DE JARRET DE VEAU
SHIN OF VEAL STEWED WITH TOMATOES AND GARLIC
For four people buy 1 lb. of shin of veal cut lengthways from the bone in strips weighing about 3 oz. each. First prepare a sauce from lb. of skinned and chopped tomatoes stewed down to a pulp without the addition of any other liquid, but well seasoned with salt, pepper, sugar and dried basil or marjoram. Now brown the veal in a good tablespoon of meat dripping or olive oil; season it, add the tomato sauce and a little under pint of meat stock. Simmer uncovered on top of the stove for 15 minutes, then put in a very low oven for an hour, with the lid on the pan. When the veal is tender, strew on the top 3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs mixed with a finely-chopped clove of garlic, a scrap of lemon peel and a tablespoon of parsley. Leave uncovered in the oven for another 10 to 15 minutes. There should be only a small amount of thickish sauce, and, as in the preceding recipe, the meat should have that sticky quality peculiar to stewed veal.
Serve with rice.
VEAU SAUMONÉ ANGOÛMOIS
SALTED AND MARINATED LEG OF VEAL
Buy a piece of boned and rolled leg of veal weighing 2 to 5 lb. Rub the meat all over with a mixture of 1 large tablespoon of coarse salt and half a teaspoon of saltpetre (to be bought from the chemist) which will give the finished dish a good pink colour. Put it in a bowl or earthenware casserole and add 3 sliced onions, 2 bayleaves, half a dozen each of peppercorns and juniper berries, half a lemon cut in slices, a branch of thyme and tarragon if possible, and pour over about half a tumbler of wine vinegar. Cover the bowl, and leave for 4 days, turning the meat every day. To cook it, put it in a saucepan with its brine, and all the onions, herbs, etc., cover with cold water and simmer, covered, extremely gently for 4 hours. Take the meat from the pan, put it in a bowl, cover with paper and a plate and weight it.
Next day it can be carved into slices as thin as ham. The original dish is served with two sauces, a thick paste of lb. anchovy fillets pounded with capers,