Veal is one of the most tender and prized meats available. It makes some of the best meat dishes on the planet, including veal scallopini. Let’s take a look at veal, its best uses, and a couple of recipes for a diverse selection of veal scallopini.
Veal
Veal is the meat of young cattle, called calves. It can come from any breed of bovine, and of either sex. However, most of the veal in the world comes from male dairy cow calves, as only the female dairy cows are needed to mature to produce milk.
It has been eaten for millennia and is prized for its soft and tender texture. It has been a staple of French, Italian, and other Mediterranean cuisines since the Classical Era. The United States can thank Italian immigrants for bringing their culinary traditions with them to the country and introducing veal dishes.
As it comes from cows, veal is just as versatile as beef is, but it’s just softer, and some would say more delicious. There are veal rib roasts, steaks, stews, and even veal burgers. So, why aren’t three more veal dishes around to rival the popularity of beef?
There are a couple of reasons. First and foremost is the price. Veal is almost always more expensive than beef because the animal is so young when it is slaughtered.
It doesn’t produce as much meat and in many cases, it is more expensive to raise. Most types of veal require special feeds, and that cost is passed on to the customer. So, don’t expect McDonald’s to start offering veal burgers anytime soon.
Another reason veal is restricted to fancier restaurants and talented home cooks is the difficulty associated with cooking it. Veal has much less fat than beef does, so cooks must take great care when preparing it.
The minimal amount of fat on veal cuts renders away quickly and the meat then toughens up and dries out. You need a decent hand at the kitchen counter to pull off veal and a good recipe, but that’s why you’re here!
Veal Nutrition
Although veal comes from younger cattle, it is not that much different from being nutritionally speaking. The tastes may be different, but your body gets roughly the same amount and type of nutrients as it would from a beef cut of comparable size. Veal does have a bit more cholesterol on average than beef, but it isn’t excessive. You’re not likely to eat veal all that often anyway compared to beef, so the difference shouldn’t cause any problems.
Scallopini
As we talked about before, scallopini is a dish that originated in Italy. The word comes from the Italian scaloppa, meaning a small scallop or slice of meat. Scallopini is a dish that consists of thinly sliced meat, most often veal, but pork and chicken sometimes take their place.
Veal is the pinnacle of scallopini, however, because the tenderness of the meat and the thin cut makes the meat a delight to eat.
In Italy, every household has its own family recipe for scallopini. It’s comfort food like mom’s mac and cheese, grandma’s casserole, or dad’s pancakes. Just, you know, more Italian. So more flavor, more complexity, and a lot more wine.
Traditionally, scallopini is dredged in wheat flour, then sauteed or fried in a redux sauce. A redux sauce is simply a reduction sauce consisting of many different ingredients including but not limited to stock, water, beer, wine, aromatics, and a small amount of fat.
Of course, there are many types of redux sauces out there, but the ones most associated with scallopini are tomato-wine redux, mushroom-wine redux, piccata, and pizzaiola sauce.
Veal Scallopini Recipes
On to the recipes! We’ll look at two recipes here, each with its own distinct bouquet of flavors. Since scallopini is a broad definition of a dish, there have been many different takes on it over the years with different sauces and accompanying ingredients.
Veal Scallopini in Mushroom Sauce
This simple recipe can be done by just about anyone and in a relatively short amount of time. It’s a good recipe to start with if you’ve never cooked veal before and want something nice and easy to try the dish out.
Ingredients
Directions
This recipe makes enough to serve two.
Veal Scallopini with Olive and Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce
If mushrooms aren’t your thing (they should be but to each their own) then try this variation that uses olives and sundried tomatoes along with white wine to make the sauce.
Ingredients
Directions
Garnish with parsley and lemon slices if you like. Or even better, prepare aside a blueberry kiwi lemonade slush.
Delicate Yet Robust
Veal scallopini is a great way to try out veal or, if you already love it, try veal in a variety of different ways. These two sauces we went over in these recipes are a good place to start, but there are more out there! For example the sauces in the sweet and sour pork recipe! There are lots of ways to enjoy this Italian classic. Italian cuisine is indeed delicious. I only have to imagine the layered Italian pasta salad for my mouth to become watery.
Featured image: CC BY 2.0, Ralph Daily via https://www.flickr.com.
This article is incorrect. Veal comes from LAMBS aka young sheep. Not at all the same thing as beef from young cattle, although you can sometimes substitute beef for veal in recipes.
My apologies. Apparently I was taught incorrectly that veal comes from lamb rather than young cattle. Please disregard my prior comment.