Côtes de Veau

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-inch (30 cm) heavy sauté pan
• •1½-quart (1.5 L) saucepan
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Heatproof measuring cup
• •Tongs
• •Warm oval serving platter

Instructions

1. 1

   Reduce the stock

   Pour the veal stock into a small saucepan and boil steadily over medium-high heat until reduced to ½ cup (120 ml), about 12 to 18 minutes. The bubbles will become smaller and glossier as the stock gains body, and a spoon dipped into it should emerge with a light coating. Pour it into a heatproof measure and reserve. If it slips below ½ cup or becomes sticky, loosen it with water a teaspoon at a time until it flows again.

2. 2

   Prepare the chops

   Warm the serving platter with hot water, then dry it thoroughly. Pat every surface of the veal dry, including around the bone, and make two or three shallow cuts through the outer rim of fat so the chops cannot curl. Season both sides with the salt and white pepper immediately before cooking. Moisture is the enemy here; a wet chop spends its first minutes making vapor when it should be making fond.

   Do not pound these into escalopes. Their thickness gives the surface enough time to bronze while the center remains tender.
3. 3

   Sauté the veal

   Set a 12-inch (30 cm) heavy sauté pan over medium-high heat and add half the clarified butter. When it shimmers, lay in two chops with clear space between them. Cook without pressing or shifting until the first side is deeply bronze and releases cleanly, about 3 to 4 minutes. Turn and cook the second side for 2 to 4 minutes, then briefly hold the fatty edge against the pan with tongs. Lift the chops when their centers register 140 to 142°F (60 to 61°C), transfer them to the warm platter, and cover loosely. Add the remaining clarified butter and repeat with the other two chops. Verify that every chop reaches 145°F (63°C) during a rest of at least 3 minutes; if one does not, return it to the pan for 30 seconds per side.

   If the butter smokes hard or the crust darkens too quickly, lift the pan off the heat for twenty seconds and lower the burner. Lively heat is required, scorched heat is not.
4. 4

   Protect the fond

   Pour the used clarified butter into a heatproof bowl, leaving the concentrated bronze fond attached to the pan. Never pour hot fat down the sink. Examine the pan before proceeding. If the fond is black and smells acrid, ça se rattrape: wipe the pan clean and make the sauce from the Madeira and reduced stock alone. You lose some depth, not the supper.

5. 5

   Swill the pan

   Take the pan away from any open flame, add the Madeira, then return it to medium-high heat. Scrape the floor and sides with a wooden spoon until every bronze speck dissolves into the wine. This déglacer, or deglazing, is the book's pan swill, and it carries the veal's concentrated gravy into the sauce. Boil until the Madeira is reduced to about 2 tablespoons (30 ml) and smells rounded rather than sharply alcoholic, about 2 to 4 minutes.

6. 6

   Build the glaze

   Add the reduced veal stock and any juices collected on the platter. Boil for 2 to 4 minutes, swirling the pan, until the glaze is nappant, coating the back of a spoon in a thin, even film. Remove the pan from the heat and monter au beurre, whisking in the cold butter one cube at a time until the glaze turns smooth and glossy. Do not boil it once the butter is in. If it looks oily or begins to separate, whisk in a teaspoon of cold water off the heat until it comes together, then continue with the remaining butter.

7. 7

   Glaze and serve

   Taste the sauce and correct the seasoning only after reduction, since salt concentrates with the stock. Arrange the rested Côtes de Veau on the warm platter and spoon the pale amber glaze generously over and around them, leaving some of the browned crust visible. Serve immediately while the buttered glaze still moves easily from the spoon. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Ask the butcher for bone-in veal rib or loin chops of even thickness. Paper-thin veal escalopes cook by another grammar; they will be finished before they can build the fond this sauce requires.
• •Use unsalted, gelatin-rich veal stock if you can. Unsalted chicken stock is an honest fallback, though the glaze will be lighter in body and flavor. Avoid salty bouillon, because reduction concentrates its salt before it supplies enough body.
• •Clarified butter is not decorative here. Whole butter burns under the lively heat required for the Sauté, while oil changes the flavor. Clarify real butter yourself or buy plain clarified butter, then keep it for high-heat pan work.
• •Madeira gives the glaze a rounded, nutty depth. The source also permits white or red wine according to the garnish; use the same quantity of dry white wine when you want a paler, sharper sauce.
• •The garnish is deliberately left open. Purée de pommes de terre, buttered noodles, or glazed carrots will receive the sauce without competing with it. A full-bodied dry white Burgundy suits the buttered veal beautifully.

Advance Preparation

• •Reduce the veal stock to ½ cup (120 ml) up to 3 days ahead, cool it promptly, and refrigerate it in a covered container. Warm it just enough to flow before adding it to the pan.
• •Clarified butter can be prepared well ahead and kept covered in the refrigerator. The chops themselves should be sautéed only when the table is nearly ready; reheating dries the veal and dulls the glaze.
• •The chops may be trimmed and patted dry earlier in the day, then refrigerated uncovered on a rack. Season them only just before they enter the pan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 190g)