Veal can be filleted like both beef or mutton, i.e.,
you can have cutlets of veal cut from the best end of
the neck exactly as with mutton, and excellent these
are ! Or, again, you can use the filet or undercut,
or the fillet (in other words, the round), precisely
as you would beef. The noisette is usually cut from
the cushion or fillet, as may be also the escalopes,
though these latter are more often cut in long
narrow strips from the loin. Any of these forms
of veal may be served broiled, stewed, braised,
sautes, or in cases. Veal in these small portions is
almost invariably either barded or larded, i.e., it is
either wrapped in thin slices of fat or larding bacon,
or it is larded with tiny lardoons passed through the
surface of the meat, as shown for grenadins, or
passed straight through from side to side. Owing
to the dryness of this meat it requires basting
frequently, and should also at the last be brushed
over with glaze and set in the oven for a minute
or two to crisp this and also the lardoons, which,
needless to say, should have been neatly trimmed.
For fillets of fowl, you should take off the whole
breast on each side of the breastbone, right down to
CUTLETS, FILLETS, &o.
27
tlie wing joint, and then slice this neatly, according
to the thickness and the size you wish your fillets to
be. The best way to manage this is to slit the skin
of the bird right along the breastbone down to the
neck, turning this skin well back as you do so ; slip
the blade of the knife (which should be a pointed
one) close down the breastbone on each side, free
the meat from the merrythought, then lift the flesh
from the breast to the base of the wing, of course
keeping the knife close to the bone so that you can
lift the meat off on each side in a solid piece thicker
at one end than the other. Place each piece flat on
a board, skinned side uppermost, then divide it
lengthways into slices as nearly even in size and
thickness as you can manage ; a good large fowl
should yield about six of these slices from each side
of the breast. These fillets should be batted out
precisely like cutlets (being careful not to bat them
too heavily, or you will mash and consequently spoil
them), and then pressed and trimmed with a wetted
knife, rounding the broad and pointing the narrow
ends to give them a cutlet shape. To cook these
fillets they are generally laid on a well buttered
baking dish lightly sprinkled with strained lemon
juice and a very little white stock, then covered with
a buttered paper and cooked from eight to ten
minutes according to thickness, in a fairly hot oven.
Fillets thus prepared can be used for all sorts of
dishes, especially for the well-known (but seldom
seen) Supreme de Volaille. This latter dish, though
a very recherche one, is not so expensive as it
sounds, as the legs can be grilled and devilled or
28
ENTREES.
Page 13
Presented as published in 1901. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Veal can be filleted like both beef or mutton, i.e., you can have cutlets of veal cut from the best end of the neck exactly as with mutton, and excellent these are ! Or, again, you can use the filet or undercut, or the fillet (in other words, the round), precisely as you would beef. The noisette is usually cut from the cushion or fillet, as may be also the escalopes, though these latter are more often cut in long narrow strips from the loin. Any of these forms of veal may be served broiled, stewed, braised, sautes, or in cases. Veal in these small portions is almost invariably either barded or larded, i.e., it is either wrapped in thin slices of fat or larding bacon, or it is larded with tiny lardoons passed through the surface of the meat, as shown for grenadins, or passed straight through from side to side. Owing to the dryness of this meat it requires basting frequently, and should also at the last be brushed over with glaze and set in the oven for a minute or two to crisp this and also the lardoons, which, needless to say, should have been neatly trimmed.
For fillets of fowl, you should take off the whole breast on each side of the breastbone, right down to
tlie wing joint, and then slice this neatly, according to the thickness and the size you wish your fillets to be. The best way to manage this is to slit the skin of the bird right along the breastbone down to the neck, turning this skin well back as you do so ; slip the blade of the knife (which should be a pointed one) close down the breastbone on each side, free the meat from the merrythought, then lift the flesh from the breast to the base of the wing, of course keeping the knife close to the bone so that you can lift the meat off on each side in a solid piece thicker at one end than the other. Place each piece flat on a board, skinned side uppermost, then divide it lengthways into slices as nearly even in size and thickness as you can manage ; a good large fowl should yield about six of these slices from each side of the breast. These fillets should be batted out precisely like cutlets (being careful not to bat them too heavily, or you will mash and consequently spoil them), and then pressed and trimmed with a wetted knife, rounding the broad and pointing the narrow ends to give them a cutlet shape. To cook these fillets they are generally laid on a well buttered baking dish lightly sprinkled with strained lemon juice and a very little white stock, then covered with a buttered paper and cooked from eight to ten minutes according to thickness, in a fairly hot oven. Fillets thus prepared can be used for all sorts of dishes, especially for the well-known (but seldom seen) Supreme de Volaille. This latter dish, though a very recherche one, is not so expensive as it sounds, as the legs can be grilled and devilled or