The veal deal

I always knew that there are a lot of people out there who don't eat veal, but I never really understood why. Just because it's a baby animal? But people eat pargiyot... so I never really understood what the difference was. Until today.

Just a disclaimer: I am pushing no political agenda here, nor do I think that my teeny little blog is powerful enough to change anyone's mind. The following information is just that: information.

The thing about veal is that it is a vender tender meat. It's tender because it comes from a very young animal. Most of the time no older than a year old. Young animals do very little exercise, so they build very little muscle, so their meat is tender. In the past, they've kept the animals in very small pens so they didn't have any room to move around and exercise. There were even animals that had their feet nailed to the ground so they couldn't move. The animals raised for veal are also only fed milk. Once they eat grass, they get more iron and their meat turns red. So, they keep them on a dairy diet. The animals are also raised in the dark so they become anemic. When they're anemic, their meat stays light, which is how people like their veal to be. Lastly, because the animals aren't getting any exercise and they're living in the dark, the animals can become very sick, so they have antibiotics fed to them right in their food. All in all, it doesn't seem like a great life for these animals. All for a tender piece of veal?

Again, I eat veal. I don't eat it regularly, mostly because of availability. So, this paragraph above is not meant to push any political or moral agenda. I honestly had no idea what the big deal was with veal. Now I get it.

I don't often work with meat at home when I cook for shabbos, so the idea of a stuffed veal chop, or a veal pocket, wasn't the first thing on my mind. But I'm glad it was on someone else's mind, because, boy was it good!

First, I got the stuffing ready. Sauteed garlic and arugula until it reduced, then I put it in the fridge to chill. I sliced a pocket in the veal chop (oh, so that's why it's called a veal pocket), and stuffed it with the cold arugula-garlic mixture. I dredged it in seasoned flour, seared it on a really hot pan, and popped it in the oven for a few minutes. Meanwhile, I made a Sauce Robert (the French way to say Robert), which is a shallot and white wine reduction with dijon mustard and demi. I have to say, if chef would have told me to throw together a sauce like that in the first week, giving me no amounts of any of the ingredients, I would've flipped out. But I think I did a pretty good job on the dish.

  To continue on our path in tenderizing meat by combination cooking (I mean, what else would we be doing?), we also made a Veal Fricassee. We started a dry cook by browning the meat a little, and then simmered it in a white wine sauce for about an hour so it really got tender. A Fricassee is very similar to a stew, it may actually be a stew, so you'd want to serve it over a rice or a mashed potato to be able to get all of the gravy.

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