Fillet of Veal, au Béchamel, with Oysters

Ingredients

• 1 fillet veal fillet
• 0.5 pint oysters
• 0.75 pint veal stock or broth
• 1 pint rich white sauce
• 1 pound veal meat

Instructions

1. Roast a delicate fillet of veal in the usual way, binding it tightly when preparing it for the spit so no cavity remains where the bone was removed.
2. While the veal roasts, gently poach the oysters in their own strained liquor without allowing them to boil.
3. Remove the beards from the oysters and set the oysters aside.
4. Boil the oyster beards for fifteen to twenty minutes in nearly three quarters of a pint of good veal stock or strong veal broth.
5. Strain out the oyster beards from the broth.
6. Add the strained liquor of the oysters to the broth, passing it through fine muslin or a strainer.
7. Convert this liquid into a rich white sauce—there should be a full pint.
8. When the veal is ready to serve, remove it from the spit and place it in a very hot dish.
9. Quickly cut out from the centre a cup-like cavity about a pound of meat, leaving a wide margin round the joint for carving.
10. Mince as rapidly as possible the white part of veal that has been cut from the fillet and the plumped oysters.
11. Put the minced veal and oysters into the hot white sauce and bring it to the point of boiling.
12. Pour the sauce into the hollowed fillet and send it immediately to table, keeping the joint under a well-heated cover and near the fire.