Veal Good Food

 

Scottish food week had to take a short break because of illness. It wasn't anything very dramatic, but there was a pronounced lack of appetite and therefore not much of interest happening in the kitchen.

But it's all better now. In fact things are pretty wonderful. The early signs of spring were out there in the sunshine today. Coming across those first branches covered in tentative pink blossoms in the last days of January is miraculous. Green shoots cropping up, snowdrops stretching out. Yes, tomorrow there will be rain and the days are still endlessly dark, but it's difficult to find something that better epitomizes hope than these first flowers. And if they happen to arrive three months earlier than they do in your home country, then you are liable to think that this is a good place, that this is just fine.

 

(Hyacinths. An impulse purchase from Woolworth's closing sale, planted in early December)

I went to the farmers' market  and the local shops this morning and came back with tarts for brunch, homemade jams, my favourite rye bread, a haggis for tomorrow, a newspaper, a new cookbook and a pound of stewing veal.

Veal. So delicious, and yet so strangely elusive in Scotland, a land of beef and dairy. When I first moved here I couldn't understand why I could never find veal in any store or at any of the butchers I visited. It's not served in restaurants here, the popular chefs don't often talk about it. Why was this? I still don't quite understand. Yes, I understand that veal is often raised in pretty awful conditions, but really, is the meat that's consumed most of the time that much better? Did those animal cruelty campaigns work that effectively? If so, I'm pretty impressed. Is it the baby animal thing? In a land that's ravenous for lamb? J is certainly treating me like a baby-eater right now. Is it just not traditional? I have no idea. There just seems to be a tacit agreement that veal is one meat too far.

But we, the inhabitants of Scotland, should eat veal. Not the white stuff, produced by crating a calf so it can't move and then feeding it a liquid diet low in iron to make the meat tender and pale. Nope. Don't eat that. It's been illegal to raise veal in those conditions in the UK since 1990. But get yourself some "rose" veal (again, imagine an accent. It's like the wine). The stuff I just bought is free range and nursed by a lady cow and had room to roam and have a nice life and develop some muscles. And that's nice, because these are male dairy cows so if they weren't raised for food, they would just be killed days after birth. They're not that useful for dairy farmers understandably. And if they're not killed, they're shipped to Europe where there is a market for them and where they could very well be crated. Instead, a few months on a picturesque farm in Dumfries and Galloway isn't that bad, is it? (The BBC has a pretty interesting page on this debate, here.) 

If you're in Glasgow, you can buy veal from the nice people at Sunnyside Farm at their market stall. They have a website where you can read about the various sheep, cow and pig breeds they have, but be careful, they have a gallery of pictures of their critters and that's a tough thing to look at before dinner. Unlike their meat, which is a tender thing to eat for dinner. Honestly this veal is beautiful. It's some of the best I've ever had.

I just made a light stew of veal, carrots, leeks and cavola nero, with some finely chopped dill shoved in there close to the end. Normally not an herb I would reach for in that context, but I am loosely basing this meal on a remembered stew my father and stepmom used to make for us. Chunks of veal, carrots, dill and pasta in a delicious and light broth. Those tastes are a nostalgic little bundle for me. I served this over some buttered pasta I just made that incorporated a little rye flour for some slight textural heft and more chopped dill. It was a pretty satisfying meal. Meaty and flavourful while still feeling healthy. And that veal. My goodness. The tenderest little chunks.

And so I would like to advance Veal and Leek Stew as a new Scottish classic. As the BBC website says, as long as there is dairy there'll be unwanted male calves. The least we can do as active meat and dairy eaters is to make sure they have a nice life and give them a delicious send-off.

Ingredients

1 pound of veal chunks

2 leeks, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

bay leaf

A bit of white wine

one slender head of cavola nero (or any of kind of kale), cut into thin slices, delicate pieces

dill

Method

1) Add a bit of oil to a big pot, heat it up, add your veal and loads of salt and pepper getting it all over the chunks.

2) Once the meat starts to cook a bit, add your leeks. Let the meat continue to lose its pink and the leeks get soft. About 10 minutes. During this time you can add your carrots and garlic.

3) Fill the pot up with just enough water to cover the meat and vegetables. Throw in the bay leaf.  Bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. You're going to want it to simmer for about 2.5 hours. Believe me. Mmmm.

4) About an hour before serving, throw in the kale and some dill. I added another whack of fresh dill right at the end as well, because I wanted a pretty fresh, kicky flavour. I also added a bit of white wine I had just to top up the liquid levels a bit.

5) You can use this time constructively to make your own pasta. Or you can log onto Facebook. No one's judging.

5) Once your house smells amazing and you can't resist it any longer, adjust seasoning and serve this beautiful stew over some buttered noodles, mashed potatoes, or any other starch of your choice.

Extra Credit: Did you know that the thing that differentiates a Scottish leek from all others is how (long and pale it is? It's the David Bowie of the leek world! ) Update: Woah. I'm totally wrong about this. It's the other way around. The Welsh/English leek is longer and paler. The Scottish kind has more dark green leaves, which are used to create deeper broths.

 

(Scottish on the left. Clearly.)

Comments

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[Pakaian anak]

I never eat veal before,but it's seem good for me

[Veal]

Great recipe, veal can be hard to get a hold of but it is getting a bit better known recently. I get Scottish veal mail order from the Isle of Bute. Little dairy farmer there rearing great produce ethically.

www.scottish-roseveal.com

[Rich Pinnell]

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