traveller1959

Time to begin with a new topic.

I thought a bit about typical European eating habits, and my American friends always said: veal. Yes, veal is very popular in European cuisine, and there are famous veal dishes like Zürcher Geschnetzeltes, Wienerschnitzel, Königsberger Klopse (I wrote about them above), Osso Bucco, Vitello Tonnato, Piccata Milanese, just to name a few.

Let me start with Zürcher Geschnetzeltes (stew Zürich style). It is a hugely popular dish in Switzerland, and practically every restaurant serves it. You make it from a good cut of veal that is usable for steaks, but you cut it into stripes. The dish is an excellent utilisation of the smaller parts of the tenderloin. Some recipes add veal kidneys, but they are optional. Here it is:

600g veal meat (or 400g and 200g veal kidneys), cut in stripes

Sprinkle with salt, pepper and a little flour. Sear in butter with very high heat until browned but inside medium rare. Take out of the pan and keep warm in the oven at 60°C.

In the pan, make a sauce from

1/2 onion, finely chopped
200g mushrooms, cut in stripes
100ml white wine
100ml veal stock

Reduce on high heat (important, otherwise the sauce is too watery).

Stir a tablespoon starch into 200ml cream and add to sauce. Let cook for a few minutes.

Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg, splash of lemon juice and a splash of Cognac.

Traditionally eaten with rösti (hash brown), but noodles are also good.

FuryFluffy

Thank you traveller. Maybe I'll try veal next week.

I'm frying duck confit (with duck legs, duck fat, thyme and all), and I have a question: the duck legs gave a lot of water when they were in salt (before frying). Is it normal?

I'll also make Pommes de terre sarladaise to go with it. Fresh fries from the scratch. That's how I ate duck confit the first time, and you're right, the first time is the best. Maybe it tasted so good back then because the host prepared only 1 duck leg for 5 people. 5 gourmand people.

traveller1959

>> Is it normal? <<

Yes, salt draws the water out of the meat. It is a physical process. The water should be replaced by fat.

PatrickLondon

I was reading a recipe for polenta chips:

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeands...-polenta-chips

Michael

<i>The water should be replaced by fat.</i>

Doubtful, as the osmosis effect of drawing out water does not apply to oil. I looked for articles and can't find any, would be happy to be contradicted by some study. At any rate, I have always had a dry piece of duck when it was properly preserved, i.e. confit.

traveller1959

Here in Europe, we practice larding, barding and making confit with lean meats (like venison and filet mignon) as well as fish (e.g. turbot) for centuries. It is not to prevent meat from drying out, because filet mignon is wrapped with bacon on the round sides, not on the surfaces which get in contact with the pan.

http://www.hotel-r.net/im/hotel/be/tournedos-13.jpg

I have found this explanation (excuse my poor translation):

Bei steigender Temperatur schmilzt das Fett teilweise und wird durch Kapillarwirkung in die Fleischoberfläche aufgenommen.

When temperature increases the fat partially melts and is absorbed by the meat surface through capillary action.

So, it has nothing to do with osmosis. And if you make confit, there is much more time for this capillary action than when you just sear for a few minutes.

I have read similar things in a book by Hervé This, a chemicist and physicist who explains the scientific processes of cooking. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herv%C3%A9_This

He wrote that fat can even change the taste of meat. His example was: sear a pork steak in lamb fat.

annhig

I'm frying duck confit (with duck legs, duck fat, thyme and all), and I have a question: the duck legs gave a lot of water when they were in salt (before frying). Is it normal?>>

yes, and you need to rinse them thoroughly and dry them ditto before cooking in the duck fat. the salting and drawing out of the liquid intensifies the flavour I think and helps to preserve them, though the fat does that too.

<<At any rate, I have always had a dry piece of duck when it was properly preserved, i.e. confit.>>

yes it will be dry when it's served, hopefully in the sense that it shouldn't be fatty or wet.

Traveller - I don't know whether you or Michel are right. When I make confit [once the salting process is over] I heat the duck fat and bring it to the required temperature, remembering that I am cooking not frying, and then put in the duck legs. They emerge cooked through but not fatty. But meat does absorb fat, e.g. if you put a piece of meat into a frying pan where the temperature isn't high enough you risk producing a rather fatty rather than crisp result.

<<He wrote that fat can even change the taste of meat. His example was: sear a pork steak in lamb fat.>>

Yuk!

<<Maybe it tasted so good back then because the host prepared only 1 duck leg for 5 people. 5 gourmand people.>>

lol - I hope there was something else on the plate!

FuryFluffy

>> lol - I hope there was something else on the plate!

Yes, there was. There were Pommes de terre Sarladaise (garlic potatoes?), the quantity was equivalent to 2 potatoes always for 5 people.

Anyway, they achieved the desired effect on me. I'd craved for both the duck confit and the potatoes til now. They tasted soooooo good!

I rinsed and dried the legs thoroughly, as you said. It felt almost like a ritual for me^^

Michael

"The fat cap is usually white, fairly hard, and can be as much as two inches thick. Meat scientist, Dr. Tony Mata, the AmazingRibs.com beef consultant, explains, "Fat will not migrate into the muscle as it is cooked. First of all, the molecules are too large to squeeze in. Second, fat is mostly oil. The red stuff in meat is muscle and it is mostly water. Oil and water don't mix. Protein in muscle is also immiscible in fat because of its chemical configuration. Third, in most cases there is an anatomical barrier between muscle and fat cap, namely, a layer of connective tissue holding muscle groups together. It too is water based."

The AmazingRibs.com science advisor Dr. Greg Blonder adds a fourth reason: "Raw meat is like a protein sponge. Before it is cooked it is fully saturated with water. There's no room for the fat to go in. As the meat cooks, water-based juices are being expelled from the interior. No way fat can swim upstream.""

from: http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_tech..._fat_caps.html

annhig

Yes, there was. There were Pommes de terre Sarladaise (garlic potatoes?), the quantity was equivalent to 2 potatoes always for 5 people.>>


doesn't it depend on the size of the potatoes?

WoinParis

I didn't know veal was Europe typical.
It was the first meal I cooked for my fiancée : very easy :
A rib from veal, you cook it correctly (veal is white, no blood in it, you cook it through) then add pickels sauce (the mix of mustard + pickles + ... and half a pot of crême fraîche. That is it.
(told you easy : I could do it when 19).
I must have done it with patatoes. Cut into small pieces and cooked in a pan, with butter.
(My wife does an excellent osso bucco).

Do you know Orloff veal ?

annhig

WoinP - it's very difficult to get veal here in Cornwall - when I see it I buy it. I'm sure that it's more widely available in London and the Home counties [I used to be able to get it when we lived in Surrey] but round here hens' teeth are more common.

Shame because I love osso bucco and like making it too. i also enjoy a good veal chop and if I ever get the chance, I'll try out your recipe.

FuryFluffy

>> pickles sauce (the mix of mustard + pickles + ... and half a pot of crême fraîche

Now that sounds like a good sauce for meat. I imagine I would be able to use it on many different dishes. European sauces are still mysteries for me.

annhig: I think human hasn't invented the kind of potatoes that 2 potatoes suffice 5 human beings, have them? ^^ I meant the food was scarce on that dinner, it was 2 normal size potatoes. By the way, the duck confit I made yesterday was heaven. I ended up not making Pommes de terre Sarladaise, because when I fried the sliced potatoes in the duck fat that remained after the confit process, the garlic and thyme flavor in the fat were absorbed into the potatoes, and it was absolutly delicious

FuryFluffy

I mean my fried sliced potatoes were so good they can rival the Belgian frites of WoinParis!

And thank you PatrickLondon for the polenta chip recipe. That's the first time I've heard of it.

StCirq

<<I ended up not making Pommes de terre Sarladaises, because when I fried the sliced potatoes in the duck fat that remained after the confit process, the garlic and thyme flavor in the fat were absorbed into the potatoes, and it was absolutly delicious>>

I'm confused, FF, because that's exactly what pommes de terre sarladaise are - potatoes thinly sliced in rondelles cooked in duck fat with garlic (and often parsley, and sometimes cèpes in season). They are a staple around here because they originated in Sarlat (hence sarladaise)s. Why weren't your potatoes pommes de terre sarladaises? Because of the thyme?

FuryFluffy

I replied to you, StCirq, but I don't know why my post disappeared.

To repeat it, yes, I meant because of the thyme. Thyme is great, but I miss parsley with those potatoes. The parsley in my garden is already frozen. In the recipes I read online, I should sautée the fried potatoes with garlic and parsley (and cèpes, some said it was a must). But if you said mine was sardalaise, then I'll take your words for it

I also threw in 2 whole chilli peppers in the confit process. I like spiciness, and it added a nice touch to the duck. It's important that it's whole fruit of chilli pepper, chilli powder would make the duck and potatoes too hot.

MyriamC

Of course I know Orloff veal. And blanquette de veau. We used to eat blanquette de veau on Sundays when I was a kid. Yummie!

annhig

By the way, the duck confit I made yesterday was heaven. I ended up not making Pommes de terre Sarladaise, because when I fried the sliced potatoes in the duck fat that remained after the confit process, the garlic and thyme flavor in the fat were absorbed into the potatoes, and it was absolutly delicious>>

Brill. and well done with those puds too. Only two between 5 people? even if they were whoppers that's a bit stingy.

StCirq

Pommes de terres sarladaises around here (around Sarlat) are twice-fried, both times in duck fat (whether it's the fat from making a confit or not is irrelevant). You slice the potatoes thin in rondelles and fry them in the duck fat, then take them out of the pan, wipe them off, and fry them again with garlic and lots of parsley. If it's fall and you have fresh cèpes, you chop them up and add them to the second frying.

They should be crispy. A lot of times they're not - a sign of bad pommes de terre sarladaises. They can be soft and very flavorful, but that's not the real thing.

I'd have had a fairly big potato for each person, even though I have a tiny appetite and could probably have ingested only half a potato at most.

traveller1959

Before I continue with veal recipes I have to slip in a venison recipe.

Hunting season has started, and yesterday we had a filet from red deer.

At first, I trimmed the meat and cooked stock from the sinews.

I cut steaks from the filet, wrapped them with smoked bacon and seared them for 3 minutes from each side until brown. Then, I seasoned the steaks with salt, pepper, juniper berries and orange peel and put them in the oven for half an hour at 80°C.

From the fond, the stock and some red wine I made a sauce with fresh cranberries, spices and a piece of chocolate.

But the best thing came last: crushed macadamia nuts roasted in argan oil to crumble over the steaks (I learnt this trick from a Michelin-starred restaurant in the Black Forest). Delicious!

BTW, the bacon, gotten crisp in the oven and having exchanged flavours with the venison, was also excellent.