There’s not much that’s better to eat than a rose veal loin chop. Rose veal is the ‘ethical’ veal that we should be eating. We should be eating it because its very tasty. We should also be eating it because it’s from young male cows, the unwanted product of dairy farming, that otherwise might be shot as calves and used as landfill.
British rose veal is produced to high welfare standards. “These animals have better living conditions than me,” one butcher said to me recently.
Lets leave the hygiene implications of that statement aside for a moment. There’s a third reason we should be buying rose veal; it’s not expensive. From a decent butcher you can expect to pay less than £5 for 300g of prime cut like loin chop. This compares very favourably to beef, less than the price of sirloin and similar to rump steak.
I think veal chops are best when seasoned with salt and pepper then pan-fried or grilled. Unfortunately these cooking methods don’t give you much in the way of cooking juices with which to make a sauce. So here is a garlic and sage-flavoured veal sauce you can make separately to go with a couple of pan-fried chops. Takes a while to make but is very much worth it!
Veal sauce, for two people (makes approx 150ml). Ingredients:
40ml rapeseed (canola) oil
250g chicken wings
1 carrot, diced
1 medium onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, peeled
10 sage leaves
200ml water
700ml veal or chicken stock
Heat the oil to a medium-high heat and when hot add the chicken wings. Brown the wings well on one side without moving before turning and browning the other side. The deeper the colour, the better. Don’t burn them, though.
Add the water and use a wooden spoon to scrape any residues from the bottom of the pan. Cook until all the water is evaporated and the wings are sizzling again and take on more colour. Then add 300ml stock and repeat the process. Once the liquid has evaporated, the wings will caramelise further in the pan and start to break up. Let them take on additional colour without burning.
Then add the vegetables and sage, with another 100ml stock, and deglaze the pan once more. Cook until the liquid has evaporated and the vegetables are lightly caramelised. Finally add the remaining 300ml stock, deglaze and turn the heat down. Simmer, covered, for half an hour. Remove the oil from the top of the sauce by skimming. Strain the sauce through a muslin-lined sieve and reduce to around 150ml of liquid.
Serve with cepes!
