Posted on April 29, 2011.
Learn more about Veal The calf is the name given to the flesh of a slaughtered calf. This type of meat is best for animals that are 6 weeks to 3 months when killed. Calves under 6 weeks are sometimes killed, but their meat is of poor quality and should be avoided. Meat from a calf that has not attained the age of 3 weeks is called Bob veal. The meat is pale, dry, hard and indigestible and therefore unsuitable. In most states the laws forbid the sale of veal to Bob for food, but constant vigilance must be exercised to protect the public against unscrupulous merchants. A calf that goes beyond the age of three months without being slaughtered must be kept and fed until they reach the age at which it can be profitably sold as beef, because he is too old to be used as a calf.
The nature of calf can be more easily understood by comparison with the beef, whose characteristics are now understood. Veal is lighter in color than beef, being closer to pink than red, and it contains very little fat, as reference to Fig. 1 Meat, Part 1, will show. The tissues of calf contain less nutrients than beef, but they contain more gelatin. The flavor of veal is less pronounced than that of beef, the difference between the age of animals used for veal and those used for beef is responsible for this lack of flavor. These characteristics, as well as the different size pieces correspondents, it is easy to distinguish from the meat of veal on the market.
Cuts of veal, and their uses
The slaughtered calf from which the calf is generally is delivered to the slaughter with the head, feet and intestines removed the carcass and the division into two halves by the spine. It divides each half into quarters, known as the forequarter and hind quarter, and reduces these into small pieces.
FORE QUARTER .-- The district is composed of front neck, Chuck, shoulder, fore leg, chest and ribs. Often, no distinction is made between the neck and chuck, these two rooms and the ham before being used for soups and stews. The shoulder is off the coast below it, and it is generally used for roasting, often with stuffing rolled inside it. The chest, which is the lower front area and corresponds to the plate of meat, is suitable for either roasting or stewing. When the bones of the ribs are removed from it, a bag that will hold the stuffing can be cut in this room. The ribs between the shoulder and the loin are called the grid, they can be cut into chops or used as a piece for roasting.
REAR QUARTER .-- The hindquarter is divided into the loin, flank, legs, and back wire. The loin and belly are even those cuts of beef. In some localities, from correspondents veal rump of beef is included with the tether, and in others it is cut in the leg. When it is part of the leg, the leg is cut right in front of the hip bone and is separated from the lower leg or shank, just below the hip. This piece is often used for frying, although chops or steaks may be cut off from him. The shank, which, with the fore leg, is called a joint, is used to make soup. When the loin and flank are cut in one piece, they are used for roasting.
VEAL ORGANS .-- Some of the organs of the calf, such as beef cattle are used for food. They are the heart, tongue, liver and kidneys, thymus and the thyroid and pancreas. The heart and tongue of veal is more delicate in texture and flavor than beef, but the methods of cooking them are practically the same. The liver and kidneys of calves make dishes very tasty and pleasing to many people. The thymus and thyroid glands and pancreas are included in the veal sweetbreads term. The thymus, which lies near it.