Veal Stuffing (For Veal and Pork)

Farce pour veau et porc (stuffing for veal and pork) teaches the discipline of ratios. Before you touch a pan, know the one true thing: equal means equal by weight. Suet, sifted breadcrumbs, and chopped parsley occupy wildly different volumes, and a measuring cup would turn the book's clean thirds into guesswork. The nutmeg must be generous and the egg must bind, not flood.

The original entry assumed two pounds of prepared farce and three small eggs, enough for professional service. Here, 125 grams of each principal ingredient and one modern large egg preserve that proportion almost exactly, while a one-litre pudding basin set in a roasting tin replaces a dedicated poaching mould. The large batch is brigade scaffolding and can go. The equal thirds, liberal nutmeg, and egg cohesion are the dish, so they stay.

Poached gently, the farce emerges compact but tender, bright with parsley, warmly perfumed with nutmeg, and rich enough to stand beside roast veal or pork without hiding inside it. Mix only until a squeezed handful holds, then poach at a bare tremble; a hard boil renders the suet too quickly and coarsens the crumb. Weigh the three equal parts before anything else. That is the step that decides the dish.