Baked Fillet of Veal
Source: Mary Randolph, 1824
History
"Baked Fillet of Veal" appears under exactly that heading in Mary Randolph's The Virginia House-Wife; or, Methodical Cook, first published in 1824 and reprinted at least nineteen times before the Civil War (the digitized copy is an 1860 printing). As printed: 'Take the bone out of the fillet, wrap the flap around and sew it, make a forcemeat of bread crumbs, the fat of bacon, a little onion chopped, parsley, pepper, salt, and a nutmeg pounded, wet it with the yelks of eggs, fill the place from which the bone was taken, make holes around it with a knife and fill them also, and lard the top; put it in a Dutch oven with a pint of water, bake it sufficiently, thicken the gravy with butter and brown flour, add a gill of wine and one of mushroom catsup, and serve it garnished with forcemeat balls fried'. Its author, Mary Randolph, was born in 1762 on her family's Virginia plantation and spent thirteen years running a Richmond boardinghouse before compiling the book. Beyond this printed appearance, the record does not document a specific pre-1824 lineage, does not attribute it to French royal kitchens, and does not record its use as a marker of social status.
Ingredients
- 1 fillet of veal
- bread crumbs
- fat of bacon
- 1 small onion
- parsley
- pepper
- salt
- 1 nutmeg
- egg yolks
- 1 pint water
- butter
- brown flour
- 1 gill wine
- 1 gill mushroom catsup
Instructions
- Remove the bone from the fillet of veal. Wrap the flap around the meat and sew it closed.
- Prepare the forcemeat: combine bread crumbs, bacon fat, chopped onion, parsley, pepper, salt, and pounded nutmeg. Wet the mixture with egg yolks until it reaches the proper consistency.
- Fill the cavity left by the removed bone with this forcemeat. Using a knife, make holes around the veal and fill them also with forcemeat.
- Lard the top of the meat. Place it in a Dutch oven with a pint of water.
- Bake until sufficiently cooked.
- Thicken the pan gravy with butter and brown flour. Add a gill of wine and a gill of mushroom catsup.
- Serve the veal garnished with fried forcemeat balls.