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Veal

A name derived from the Latin vitellus, a calf, via Norman French, means the flesh of calves, young cattle of the species Bos taurus. National and regional variations in its consumption are strongly marked. In Europe it is important in the cookery of the Netherlands, France, Italy, Germany, and (to some extent) Spain; but less so in Britain, and hardly at all in Russia.

The influence of immigrants from veal-eating countries in Europe has given veal some limited popularity in both N. and S. America, but this too varies by region. It has never been important in Middle Eastern or Asian countries.

How much distinction had been made between the flesh of calves and that of mature cattle in the remote past is unclear. By classical Roman times, however, veal was being prescribed in some recipes. Later, in the Middle Ages, there are enough references to veal in France and England to show that it was known and appreciated; see, for example, the 15th-century recipes in An Ordinance of Pottage (ed. Constance Hieatt, 1988), including one for Veal bucnade which Hieatt thinks more or less the same as the modern French recipe for Blanquette de veau à l'ancienne (see blanquette). It is certainly clear that the gelatinous stock obtained from calves' feet was highly prized from early times—as it is now—for making jellies; and that veal roasts and stews were familiar fare in wealthy households. However, the British, having adequate pasture for mature cattle, have generally been able to indulge their preference for beef.

In the latter part of the 20th century consumption has been affected by moral and other scruples. Many people in Britain have looked askance at veal, mainly because they disapprove of methods for rearing calves in ‘crates’, restricted spaces, on an iron-deficient diet with no exercise or sunlight. This is not an entirely new worry. Mrs Beeton (1861) commented ‘there was no species of slaughtering practised in this country so inhuman and disgraceful as that, till very lately, employed in killing this poor animal; when, under the plea of making the flesh white, the calf was bled day by day, till, when the final hour came, the animal was unable to stand. This inhumanity is, we believe, now everywhere abolished.’

In France, in the decades following the Second World War, a parallel move away from veal was caused by the practice of feeding hormones to calves, until this was made illegal. However, veal consumption by the French has remained high in comparison with that of, say, the British or N. Americans.

Quality and Cuts

The best veal is considered to come from animals aged about two and a half or three months, especially if exclusively milk fed, giving the almost white meat prized in continental Europe.

France, Italy, and C. Europe are the home region of veal escalopes, thin round or oval pieces cut from the loin, leg, or best end. These were formerly known as collops in Britain. A schnitzel is an escalope under its German name.

The term ‘fillet’ when used of veal has two meanings: it may apply conventionally to the undercut from the loin, but is also used to mean a long narrow muscle from the leg, and both are used for escalopes. Italian scaloppine (US scallops) or piccate (and the smaller piccatine) are cut from the leg fillet. The medaillons (round slices) and grenadins (little steaks) of French cookery are cut from either the loin or the leg fillet.

The close texture and mild flavour of lean, minced veal makes it a valuable ingredient in many pâtés, galantines, and stuffings, besides showing to advantage in such dishes as veal loaf. The value of the gelatinous stock which can be produced from veal bones, feet and trimmings, which has already been mentioned, accounts for the use of ‘veal glue’ in England in the 18th century; this was a precursor of the modern stock cube.

Veal Cookery

Perhaps partly because veal recipes owe so much to Italian cookery, there is considerable consensus amongst cooks from different countries about appropriate flavours and accompaniments. Broadly speaking, these fall into three categories: first, the use of sharp flavourings, especially lemon, which is a common garnish, or acid vegetables, such as sorrel, spinach, or tomatoes, or the use of paprika and sour cream which is typical of (for example) parts of Germany and Austria; secondly, the addition of salted meat in the form of prosciutto, ham, or bacon; and thirdly, cheese, either grated into a coating mixture, or as a slice melted on the meat. Eggs are also called for in stuffings and sauces, and a fortified, sweetish wine such as Marsala or sherry or Madeira is often chosen for veal cookery.

Recipes for veal in English cookery books, past and present, reflect this consensus and often show continental European influence. The veal and ham pie which came into prominence in the 19th century can be regarded as an English contribution to the repertoire. And there were others. Although greensauce is by no means exclusive to England, its use in England with veal is distinctive. ‘Scotch collops’ were thin slices of fried meat, usually veal, as in Hannah Glasse (1747). Nor did veal escape the popular 18th-century English treatments of collaring or potting. The paleness of the meat was valued in the latter method; potted veal packed in layers with potted tongue produced an attractive effect when cut and was known as ‘marble veal’.

Whatever sort of recipe is used for veal, gentle heat is required, otherwise the meat tends to become dry. One interesting technique is for escalopes to be rolled around a filling and braised. English cooks were doing this in the 17th century and calling the result ‘veal olives’, a curious term whose origin is explained under beef olives.

In Italy escalopes form the basis of some of the most famous dishes. Saltimbocca (literally ‘jump in the mouth’) consists of a very thin slice of veal and a leaf of fresh sage, covered with a slice of prosciutto, fried, and served with gravy made in the pan.

Costoletta alla milanese, a well-known Milanese dish, is a veal chop (or cutlet on the bone), dipped in egg and breadcrumbs, fried gently in butter, and served with lemon wedges. This bears a resemblance to but is not the same thing as the Wiener Schnitzel which is so popular on the other side of the Alps, in Austria and Germany; the Milanese cut the meat from the rib and fry it in butter, whereas the Austrians take the escalope from the leg, and fry it in lard. The Milanese version seems to be much the older of the two.

It is easy to be confused between costoletta and cotoletta. The former is a chop, or cutlet on the bone—a cut of meat with a piece of rib. Cotoletta, on the other hand, indicates not a cut of meat but a manner of cooking, to wit egg-and-breadcrumb treatment followed by frying in butter. The cut of meat used for a cotoletta of veal would be an escalope. Cotoletta alla bolognese, where the veal is topped with ham and cheese, or just cheese, is a famous dish of this sort. However, if prepared in a different way, the escalope would retain the name indicating its cut, e.g. scaloppina or piccata, as in Piccata al limone. Things other than meat (for example mushrooms, slices of aubergine, fillets of fish, chicken breasts) can be cooked a cotoletta, meaning cotoletta style. All this is well explained by Anna del Conte (1989).

One of the most famous of Italian veal dishes is Vitello tonnato, which is braised veal, larded with anchovies, sliced, and marinated in a sauce of tuna, olive oil, lemon juice, and capers; the versatility of this recipe can be demonstrated by making it with white turkey meat. Another famous dish is the Milanese Osso bucco—sawn sections of veal shin (with the marrow left in) cooked with wine and tomatoes, sprinkled with a mixture of chopped parsley, garlic, and grated lemon peel, called gremolada.

As for the New World, Mariani (1994) observes that beef cattle were not plentiful in the USA until the 19th century and that even then the abundance of grass and fodder in the Midwest encouraged rearing them to full size:

It was only with the arrival of Italian and German immigrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that an appetite for veal developed in the eastern cities, with schnitzels and veal scallopine showing up on restaurant menus. Annual consumption of veal by Americans in the 1940s was nearly 10 pounds per capita, but, largely owing to the high cost of the meat, it had fallen to about one and a half pounds by the early 1980s. It is still mostly eaten in Italian and French restaurants, where adaptions of Old World recipes have resulted in dishes like ‘Veal Parmesan’ and ‘Veal Francese’, whose names are unknown abroad.

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