Veal Recipes

Archive for the ‘veal recipes from history’ Category

The original Dutch recipe is called: “Om Frickedillen in Krop-salaet te maken” (to make frickedillen in lettuce). Frickedillen are meatballs made with minced veal. Originated in 17th and 18th century.You can buy the modern frikadel or frikandel in any Dutch snack-bar.
Ingredients
1 lb. ground veal 450g
1/4 cup kidney fat of veal, finely chopped 50g
4 heads lettuce
nutmeg, mace, pepper, salt to taste
4 hardboiled eggs and 1 raw egg
crumbled rusk for the meatballs
2 (or more) crumbled rusks for the sauce
1/4 cup butter 50g
1/2 cup juice of gooseberries or unripe grapes, or apple-vinagre, or verjuice

Directions
Preparation in advance:
Wash the heads of lettuce, drain well.
Remove the outer leaves. Use these the next day for a salad.

Prepare the ground veal:
Knead the meat with chopped fat, spices, and crumbs of rusk.
Take the yolks out of the hardboiled eggs.
Make four meatballs, and carefully put in the middle of each ball a hardboiled yolk.
Place in the middle of each head a meatball.
Bind with kitchen twine.

Preparation:
Lay the heads side by side in a pan where they snugly fit.
Pour in some water.
It should reach halfway the lettuces.
Bring to the boil, and let the heads simmer, covered, for 7 minutes.
Carefully turn the heads over, let them simmer for 7 more minutes.
Drain the heads, keep them warm. Reduce the simmering-liquid by one-third.
Bind the sauce with the crumbled rusk (or use toasted bread bread-crumbs).
Bring to the boil once more.
Season to taste with some sour liquid like applevinegar, gooseberry- or grapejuice.
The sauce should have a slightly sour taste.

To serve:
Remove the kitchen twine from the heads of lettuce.
Put the heads on a decorative dish.
If you wish, you can cut the heads in half, to show the yellow surprise in the middle.
Pour some of the sauce around the heads, serve the remainder in a sauce-cup.

14th century English Dish — strange but very tasty.

Ingredients
4 veal shanks, cleaned
2 calf’s feet, split
water to cover
½ cup honey
¼ cup onion, finely minced
¼ cup fresh parsley, finely chopped
wine vinegar

Directions
Wash meat and place in a large kettle.
Cover with water.
Add honey.
Bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to a slow boil.
Cover.
Cook for 2½ – 3 hours or until meat falls apart.
Remove meat from liquid.
Remove bones from meat when cool enough to handle, chopping large pieces smaller, including skin if any.
Put meat on a clean sterilized white cloth (canvas is best but muslin works fine).
Wrap into a large sausage shaped roll.
Place on a large pan or baking dish.
Set a pan the same size on top and place a weight on it. (A one gallon jug of water works well, or 4 bricks).
Refrigerate for several hours or overnight.
Remove cloth. Place on an oblong serving platter.
Slice thinly. Sprinkle with onions, parsley and wine vingar. Serve.

Note
A line of thinly sliced onion rings down the center and parsley springs around the outside makes a nice garnish. The broth remaining can be strained and reduced to half, refrigerated and then unmolded to serve as an accompanying aspic.

General Comments
When cut into it revealed a nice coppery color that looked without too much of a stretch of the imagination like smoked fish. This dish is a nice looking dish and is really rather tasty.

Original Recipe
To make sturgyn. Take [th]e houghys of vele and caluys feete and sethe hem in hony. And whan [th]ou hast soden hem all to poudre, take [th]e bonys oute. In case [th]at [th]e flesshe be longe, take it a stroke or ii and put it in a fayre cannevasse and presse it welle. Than take it and lese it fayre in thynne leches, and not to brode. Take onyons, vynegre, and percelly and ley [th]eron, and so serue it forthe. (Curye on Inglysch, pp. 155-6)
- Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Curye on Inglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of Cury). New York: for The Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1985.

Recipe source : England, 14th century – Forme of Cury

Ingredients
Veal, boiled until fully cooked, and then ground. (Be sure to save the broth.)
hard-boiled Eggs, diced
whole pitted prunes
dates
pine nuts
currants
Whole spices and powder – salt, pepper, ginger, clove, parsley, cinnamon, etc. – be creative and use any period spice that you prefer.
sugar
salt
reserved broth
One nine-inch pie shell with pastry lid

Directions
Combine first 9 ingredients in a large bowl.
Add enough of the saved broth to thoroughly saturate the mixture and hold it together – it should be thick and slightly runny.
Place this filling in the pie shell; add lid.
Bake until the pastry is a golden brown. Serve forth!

Original Recipe in Old English
Tartletes. Take veel ysode and grinde it smale. Take harde eyren isode & yground, and do þerto with prunes hoole, dates icorue, pynes and raisouns coraunce, hoole spices & powdour, sugur & salt; and make a litell coffyn and do þis fars þerinne. Couer it & bake it & serue it forth.
- Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Curye on Inglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of Cury). New York: for The Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1985.

Gode Cookery Translation
Tartlettes. Take veal boiled and grind it small. Take ground hard-boiled eggs, and do there-to with whole prunes, cored dates, pine nuts and currants, whole spices & powder, sugar & salt: and make a little pie shell and do this filling there-in. Cover it & bake it & serve it forth.

serves 8

Ingredients 
¼ cup olive oil
½ teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon dried coriander, ground 
½ teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 pounds veal
8 wooden skewers

Directions
Excluding the meat, mix all the ingredients for a marinade.
Cut the meat into cubes weighing roughly 2 oz. each.
Marinate the meat for at least 2 ½ hours, preferably overnight.
Remove the meat from the marinade (reserve the marinade) and skewer three pieces per skewer. Roast the skewers on a grill at high heat or broil on high for approximately 15 minutes, basting every 5 minutes with the reserved marinade.

Per serving nutritional information:
229 Calories; 15g Fat (59% calories from fat); 23g Protein; 0g Carbohydrate; 96mg Cholesterol; 230mg Sodium

Original recipe from De honesta voluptate
On Meat, Roman Style. Cut veal into pieces not larger than an egg so that no piece is completely cut from another, and sprinkle at once with salt and coriander or ground fennel. When they are sprinkled, press a little between two boards. When a spit has been passed through them, turn them over the fire until they are cooked, with a chunk of lard so they do not touch and do not dry out too much. Turn them over the fire until they are cooked. This is of great and easy nourishment, but it is digested slowly and constipates the bowels. (Milham, 279)
contributed by Gaylin J. Walli

Original recipe from Harleian MS. 279 Vyaunde Furnez:

Ingredients
1½ – 2 lbs. stewing veal, with bones, cut into ca. 2″ pieces
2 cups white wine
½ teaspoon salt
water to cover (about 2-3 cups)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh parsely
1 teaspoon dried savory
½ teaspoon dried sage
½ teaspoon dried hyssop
1teaspoon crushed Ceylonese cinnamon or 1/2 tsp ground cassia (ordinary, or Chinese cinnamon – see note below)
1teaspoon ground dried ginger
¼ teaspoon crushed mace blades
2 -3 cloves, lightly crushed
4 -5 peppercorns, cracked
coffee filter (no holes) or cheesecloth
string
a small pinch of saffron
¾cup chopped, pitted dates
1 teaspoon mild white wine vinager
salt
3-4 eggs, lightly beaten
8″ partially baked pie shell

Directions
Put all the herbs and spices except for the salt and the saffron in the coffee filter or cheesecloth and tie closed with string to make a bouquet garni.
Place this, the veal, the salt, the saffron, and the wine into a large stew pot and add enough water so that the veal is covered.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer uncovered until veal is tender and just falling off the bones, (about 1½ to 2 hours.).
Remove veal to plate.
Bring remaining liquid back to a boil and reduce to around 1 to 1½ cups.
Watch carefully when the liquid level gets low – it’s easy to overcook and scorch the broth. Add vinager, and adjust salt if necessary (add only a very little bit at a time).
Let broth cool to lukewarm. Preheat oven to 425º F.
When veal is cool enough to handle, remove bones and gristle and lay meat in the bottom of the pie shell along with the dates.
Mix beaten eggs with the reduced liquid and pour into pie shell.
Bake 20-25 minutes until custard is set. Let cool to room temperature and serve it forth.

Original recipe from Harleian MS. 279 Vyaunde Furnez:
Crustade. Take vele, an smyte in lytle pecys in-to a potte, an wayssche yt fayre; þan take fayre water, & lat yt boyle to-gedre with Percely, Sawge, Sauerey, & Ysope aml y-now and hew; & whan it is on boiling, take pouder Peper, Canell Clowys, Maces, Safroun, & lat hem boyle to-gederys, & a gode dele of wyne þer-with. Whan þe fleyssche is y-boylid, take it fro þe broþe al clene, & lat þe broþe kele; & whan it is cold, take Eyroun, þe whyte & þe ¦olkys, & cast þorw a straynoure, & put hem in-to the broþe, so many þat þe broþe be stuf y-now; þen make fayre cofyns, & cowche .iij. pecys or .iiij. of þe fleyssche in a cofyn; þan take Datys, & kytte hem,, & cast þer-to; þan take pouder Gyngere, & a lytle verious, & putte in-to þe broþe & Salt; & þan putte þin lycoure þer-on, & lat al bake to gederys tyl it be y now; þan [take] yt owt, and serue hem forth.

Modern English version:
Take veal, and smite in little pieces into a pot, and wash it fair; then take fair water & let it boil together with parsley, sage, savory, and hyssop small enough and hew; and when it is on boiling, take powder pepper, canel, cloves, maces, saffron, & let them boil together , & a good deal of wine there-with. When the flesh is boiled, take it from the broth all clean, & let the broth cool; and when it is cold, take eggs, the whites and the yolks, & cast through a strainer, & put them into the broth, so many that the broth be stiff enough: then make fair coffins & couch .iij. pieces or .iiij. of the flesh in a coffin; then take dates & cut them and cast there to; then take powder ginger, & a little verjuice, & put into the broth & salt; & then put the broth on the coffins, bake a little with the flesh or put thine liquor there-on, & let all bake together till it be enough; then [take] it out, and serve them forth.

Notes on the recipe:
1. Expense: This recipe was intended for professional cooks to put on a great lord’s table. The ingredients were costly in the Middle Ages and are still not cheap. It is a nice dish to serve to high table or if you have an “above the salt” feast.
2. Cuts of Meat: Veal shank, used for osso bucco is very expensive, but also very tasty! It can be cooked with less expensive stewing veal to stretch the budget – the shank will flavor and moisten the other meat. Another good cut would be the ribs. Loin or shoulder chops, with bones, are not as good, but will work. Scalloppine (boneless veal sold pre-sliced), besides being too expensive, are also too dry – a fairly cartilaginous cut will give off the right amount of gelatin. The average American will probably not eat the cooked cartilage, being accustomed to the tough cartilage of beef, so I usually remove it when boning the meat — and then eat it myself, it being quite delicious with a lovely crunchy/tender texture (ditto for any marrow – very sweet and flavorful, a real treat in the Middle Ages).
3. Cinnamon: Not everyone is aware that there are two types of cinnamon available. The spice you nearly always find sold as cinnamon in this country is actually cassia or “Chinese” cinnamon ( in the UK it may not be sold as cinnamon.) “True” or “Ceylonese” cinnamon (Zeylanicum) is a lighter brown in color than cassia; the bark (in stick form) is much thinner and flakier; and it’s flavor is much milder and sweeter than cassia, not nearly so hot. Both were known in Europe in the Middle Ages. It is not always clear which one they are referring to as the term “canel” or “canelle” was used for both. The name is from the Latin “canellus” meaning “little tube” as the bark was obtained rolled into stick form. I prefer to use Ceylonese as I find the flavor to be superior. It is available mail order from The Pepperers Guild (a SCAdian spice buying organization). I have also seen it at other merchants – the Rialto archives have contact info for a number of them. The Guild also sells hyssop or you may look for it at a good “health food” store if you have one handy.
4. Bouquet garni: This means bundling the spices and herbs into cheesecloth (I use coffee filters without the holes) to make a sort of tea bag. I do not know if it was a medieval usage, but it allows one to serve dishes without worrying about crunching into little bits of herb or spice bark, leaves, or stems if your grinding tools are inadequate. It is a standard practice in classic 19′th-20′th French cooking, so much so that the ingredients are not even specified in many recipes.
5. Saffron: saffron is the stamen (the female reproductive organ) of a particular type of crocus. Considering how many threads (stamens) of saffron you get from one crocus and the fact that it must be hand harvested, it is correspondingly expensive. It commonly comes from Spain. The threads are a bright orange red and give a beautiful yellow color and unique flavor to any recipe they are added to. A true Spanish paella cannot be made without it. It will photodegrade, even more so than most spices – store it in a dark cool place.
6. Verjuice is the juice of unripe (green) grapes. It is already sour when pressed, however, due to the lower sugar content it will not develop nearly as high an acidity as vinegar in which the sugar in the ripe grapes ferments to alcohol which sours to acetic acid. Note however that in the United States most vinegars are diluted to a standard 5% acidity. Imported Italian vinegars can run as high as 8%-10% acidity. Vinegar in the Middle Ages was probably not diluted and had a fairly high acid content. I feel that a mild US wine vinegar will probably approximate the taste of verjuice reasonably well; it is also much more easily available.
7. Eggs: Casting eggs through a strainer will result in a lightly beaten egg, which is what I have specified. If you are wondering why they bothered with the strainer, find a picture of a medieval whisk. It was a lot easier to push it through a strainer, a common utensil in large medieval kitchens. Another reason why you might want to use a strainer….please remember that most eggs sold in the US are unfertilized eggs from hens that have never seen a rooster; not a common situation in medieval chicken coops. If a fertile egg is a little older than just laid … well, you can get bits you would definitely want to strain out of your eggs.
8. Pie crusts, flours and fats: White flour, which has the bran (outer husk) and germ removed, was not available in the Middle Ages. Fine flour was produces by extra fine milling and then sifting the flout through progressively finer strainers. If you wish to use whole wheat for a more authentic crust, remember to use soft wheat (low gluten) pastry flour, available at most “health food” stores. The stuff sold at the grocery store is almost always hard wheat (high gluten ) bread flour. Even with soft wheat flour, a whole wheat crust is more difficult to work with as well as tougher that made with white flour. Many people blend white and wheat; this is probably equivalent to finely “bolted” (sifted) medieval flour, as proportionately more of the coarser bran and germ would be removed by sifting. Medieval recipes I have seen do not go into detail about pie crusts since they presumed their readers were already expert chefs and thus would already know how to make something as basic as “fayre coffins.” Butter, lard and various oils were probably all used depending on availability and religious observance (butter and lard, being of animal origin, could not be used during Lent). An all butter crust will be tasty but very brittle, especially if the flour is high in gluten. Rendered lard makes an excellent (if cholesterol laden) crust. I cannot find good, solid lard for pie crusts here in the South: it is mostly used for frying and is designed to be melted. It was readily available in New England (in sticks much like butter) where a sizable French-Canadian ethnic minority would not dream of making tortière with anything else. As a substitute for lard you can use vegetable oil shortening, or mix some of it in with your butter to make the crust less brittle. Vegetable oil shortening is a modern invention – when old recipes refer to shortening, they mean butter or lard. It is made from oil which is artificially saturated to make it solid at room temperature. The more saturated the fat the higher the temperature at which it will remain solid. Solid fats generally product a better pie crust, flaky but not crumbly. Oil crusts are more difficult to work with and take a good deal of practice. A good low fat or a health food cookbook such as “Laurel’s Kitchen” (I don’t have the publishing data handy) should have instructions on making one, as they are much lower in saturated fat, depending on the oil used. A health food cookbook will also give instructions on working with whole wheat crusts. Or you could just use premade frozen crusts from the grocery store. They are not nearly as authentic, but very, very much easier!
9. Substitutions: If cost is an issue, this dish may also be made using skinned dark meat chicken and a half packet of unflavored gelatin since veal is naturally more gelatinous than chicken. Without the gelatin the filling can get somewhat runny. The skin should be removed so the broth will not be too fatty. If you use boneless chicken, increase the gelatin to a full packet. The pie is still quite good, although the flavor is not as delicate as when it is made with veal. Some turmeric or a drop or two of yellow food coloring can be substituted for the saffron, but again, the flavor will suffer.

Source by Joyce Baldwin

Orignal recipe – Andrews, E.B. trans. Platina. De Honesta Voluptatae. L. de Aguila. Venice, 1475. St. Louis: Mallinckrodt, 1967.

Ingredients
Veal, diced
bread (stale is best)
eggs
onions, diced
garlic, diced
oregano
pepper
anise
salt
marjoram
parsley
sausage casings 

Directions 
In a bowl mix the veal and spices.
Next, grind the veal and spice mixture into a coarse mix.
Then, grate the bread into fine crumbs then mix it with the meat.
Add eggs to bind. Add diced onion and fold in well.
Add olive oil as needed. Stir vigorously until well-mixed.
Next carefully stuff the sausage cases with the meat mixture.
When you are done, you may smoke them for future use or roast them over a fire.
Before roasting, soak them in beer or barley water for flavor.

Original recipe from Platina:
Exicium Ex Pulpa. Take the meat from a haunch of veal and cut it up finely with the soft fat or lard. Grind marjoram and parsley together. Beat the yolks of eggs together with grated cheese. Sprinkle with spices and work this into one mass and mix it all up with the meat. The cut pieces of sausage casing from pork or veal and roll up the meat mixture inside them in lumps the size of an egg. Cook them on a spit at the hearth over a slow fire; the common folk call this exicium; indeed when they are a little underdone they are more flavorful than when cooked too much. Consequently, they are slow to be digested and cause obstructions and stones. Nevertheless, this helps the heart and liver.

Original recipe from 1500 London
- A noble boke of festes ryalle and Cokery. London: Richard Pynson, 1500.

Ingredients
Veal, minced or chopped in small pieces
onions, minced
pepper
cloves
cinnamon
egg yolks
saffron
salt

Directions
Mince or chop the veal; place in a large soup pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat and cook until the veal is tender, skimming off any scum that will rise to the surface.
Remove the veal from the broth; strain the broth and return it to the pot.
Return the broth to a boil; add the onions and spices. Bring back to a boil, then add the veal.
Reduce heat to a simmer.
In a separate bowl, beat the eggs.
Add some of the hot broth and beat well together.
Stir this mixture into the buknade until it is completely blended.
Colour it with a little saffron and salt to taste. Serve.

Buknade – “A stew of variable flesh, veal being most usual…. the root buk of the title signifies the meaning of ‘veal dish,’ as in the well-known modern Italian veal shank dish, osso bucco.” From Curye on Inglish, p. 175. (Hieatt, Constance B. and Sharon Butler. Curye on Inglish: English Culinary Manuscripts of the Fourteenth-Century (Including the Forme of Cury). New York: for The Early English Text Society by the Oxford University Press, 1985.)

Original Recipe in original olde English
To make Buknadet take vele smalle chopped & vele perboylled: than gader up the flesshe and clense the brothe through a streyner & putte it in a pot & sette it on the fyre & put therto onyons mynced and pouder of peper pouder of clowes & canell & whan it boyleth put in the flesshe: than take rawe yolkes of egges in a bolle & caste therto of the hote brothe & medle it well togider and in the settynge dowe put in the eggis & styre it togyder and gyue it a lytell colour of saffron and salte it and serue it.
- A noble boke of festes ryalle and Cokery. London: Richard Pynson, 1500.

Gode Cookery Translation
To make Buknade take veal small chopped & veal parboiled: then gather up the flesh and cleanse the broth through a strainer & put it in a pot & set it on the fire & put thereto onions minced and powder of pepper powder of cloves & cinnamon & when it boils put in the flesh: then take raw egg yolks in a bowl & cast thereto of the hot broth & mix it well together and in the setting down put in the eggs & stir it together and give it a little colour of saffron and salt it and serve it.

Ancient Roman recipe of the upper classes.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients
800g – 1kg veal
300g dried raisins (sultanas)
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons vinegar
200 ml wine
100 ml oil
100 ml Defritum
100 ml Liquamen (or 1 teaspoon salt)
pepper
celery seeds
liebstoeckl
cumin
oregano
dried onion to taste

Definition of liebstoeckl: It is an ancient spice, similar to celery. The roots of the plant were ground into a powder. It’s an umbelliferous plant with yellowish flowers. Its dried roots are used as spice.

Directions
Fry veal in olive oil until well done.
Mix raisins, wine, vinegar,
honey, oil, liquamen and spices together in an extra pan, shortly boil the sauce.
Pour over the veal, then leave the meat for 10 minutes in
the sauce and cook on low heat.
Serve.

Recipe Source: An old Roman cookbook – MARCUS GAVIUS APICIUS: DE RE COQUINARIA

The book is edited and translated from Latin by Robert Maier.

Ancient Roman Recipe of the Upper Classes.

Serves 4

Ingredients
800g – 1kg veal
pepper
liebstoeckl
cumin
celery seeds to taste
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons vinegar
100ml oil
100 ml Liquamen (or 100ml white wine + 1 teaspoon salt)
cornstarch, small amount

Definition of Liquamen: a salty fish sauce. Most of the time you can replace it by salt.
Recipe: Smell fishes (Sardines etc.) Salt. Place the fish in a pot and completely cover with the salt. Leave for 7 days until liquid.

Definition of liebstoeckl: It is an ancient spice, similar to celery. The roots of the plant were ground into a powder. It’s an umbelliferous plant with yellowish flowers. Its dried roots are used as spice.

Directions
Cook the veal for about 1½ hour until well done.
Mix together honey, vinegar, oil, liquamen and spices in an extra pan.
Boil the sauce only shortly and thicken it with cornstarch.
Then pour sauce over the veal and let boil on low heat for another 10 minutes.
Serve.

Recipe Source: An old Roman cookbook – MARCUS GAVIUS APICIUS: DE RE COQUINARIA

The book is edited and translated from Latin by Robert Maier.

serves 8

Ingredients
2 lbs veal leg 1kg
¼ cup roasted almonds
1½ teaspoons cumin seed
1½ teaspoons coriander seed
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ginger, finely shredded
1-2 garlic cloves
2 teaspoons honey
2 tablespoons oil or butter
1 medium onion, sliced
1 tablespoon grated onion or lemon peel
2 cinnamon sticks
½ cup vermouth or light veal stock
1 cup light cream or whole milk yogurt

Directions
Grind almonds with cumin, coriander, salt, ginger, garlic, and honey in a blender, food processor, or mortar and pestle to form a paste, (If using a blender, add a few tablespoons of the vermouth or stock to facilitate blending.)
In a large heavy skillet, brown veal in oil or butter.
Set aside.
Brown onion in the same oil or butter.
Add almond spice paste to browned onions and gently fry.
Add water to keep from burning.
Add grated peel, cinnamon sticks, and stock or wine and simmer for 10 minutes.
Return veal to skillet and continue to simmer on low heat, about 15 minutes or until veal is cooked through.
Add cream or yogurt and heat thoroughly.
Do not allow to boil, as this will give an undesirable curdled texture to the sauce.
Keep sauce at a simmer.
Serving suggestions are hot whole wheat sourdough bread, basic barley, and a salad.

Recipe source: The Good Cook Cookbook by Goodman, Marcus and Woolhandler