Escalope de Veau Grillée
A grilled veal escalop.
Escalope de Veau or Paillard de Veau - A veal cutlet, escalope, escallop, or scallop of veal holds a unique position in the French kitchen. The traditional term paillard de veau initially indicated a different cut than an escalope, with a paillard beaten to be thinner than an escalope; however, today, the term paillard is seen less often, and escalopes will be on the menu. All cutlets or scallops are boneless and generally cut to round or oval shapes. The word escalope may also be used for poultry, fish, and pork, so read the menu carefully. The North American usage of a scallop for an escalope can also cause confusion with the shellfish called the scallop. A veal escalope is always thinly sliced, and then thinned some more to make sure the veal served is tender. France is the largest producer of veal in Europe, and so it is definitely the place to enjoy a veal escalope. (Italian restaurants and certain dishes are popular in France and they may use the term scallopine or piccata, indicating as in France thinner slices of an escalope called a paillard).
Veal escalopes on French Menus:
Veau Cordon Bleu –
An escalope of veal wrapped around a slice of boiled ham and cheese,
traditionally that is French Gruyere, though it is often made with Comte or Munster cheese, breaded,
and then fried.
Cordon Bleu: While
this is a dish from the mid-20th century, the Cordon Bleu, the award of
the blue ribbon, is much older. The Cordon Bleu was part of an award
created by King Henry III of France in 1578; it was awarded for
outstanding service to the French Crown.
The tradition connecting the Cordon Bleu to French cuisine is down to King Louis XV (1710-1777). In the accepted tradition, King Louis XV presented the award to a female chef who had prepared an exceptionally memorable banquet. Following that award, the term Cordon Bleu became synonymous with excellence in culinary arts.
The emblem of the Cordon Bleu School, Paris.
The first well-known French cookery school was called
the Cordon Bleu, and it was founded by a lady named
Marthe Distell in Paris in 1895. Marthe Distell also
founded an early publication for French foodies called La Cuisinière Cordon
Bleu, the Cordon Blue Cuisine. That magazine did much to make the ordinary
French citizen aware of changes in the kitchen, just as the chef Escoffier
began to make a name for himself. When visiting Paris, call ahead
and take a one-day or a half-day course in English or French at the Cordon Bleu
school. View a demonstration dish being prepared before you committ
to that full three-year program! The Parisian Cordon Blue English language
website is: http://www.cordonbleu.edu/paris/home/en.
The school’s most famous American graduate is Julia Child.
Escalope de Veau a la Crème - Lightly fried veal cutlets with a cream sauce usually including button mushrooms and often accompanied by pasta.
Escalope de Veau a la Crème.
Photograph courtesy of Isabelle
Hurbain-Palatin
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ipalatin/5413919556/
Escalope de Veau Chasseur - A
veal escalope prepared for a hunter. A lightly fried veal escalope
served with wine sauce made with button mushrooms and a roux brune,
a basic brown sauce. The sauce will be flavored with white wine, échalotes, shallots; persil, parsley; cerfeuil, chervil; estragon, tarragon -
and sometimes crème fraiche.
Escalope de Veau à la Crème
- Lightly fried veal cutlets with a cream sauce, usually including button mushrooms
and often served with pasta.
Escalope de Veau Milanaise Blonde
d'Aquitaine – A Milanese breaded
veal cutlet from the Blonde d'Aquitaine, Label Rouge, red label cattle;
in Italy, this would be Cotoletta alla Milanese. There is
sometimes some confusion between the breaded Milanese cutlets and Wiener
Schnitzels. However, the traditional Italian version only uses
breadcrumbs, no flour, and is fried in butter. A Wiener Schnitzel is a
different cut and dipped in flour before adding breadcrumbs, and as it is not
cooked in butter, leading to notable differences in taste and texture. (See Escalope
à la Viennoise below). When ordering an Escalope de Veau
Milanaise in France, I have twice had Parmesan cheese served on the side,
though I have never seen that in Italy, and it is a practice that must surprise
Italians visiting France.
Blonde d'Aquitaine:
The traditional center for raising Blonde d'Aquitaine cattle is the
department of Landes in the region of Nouvelle Aquitaine. When a red label is
awarded, the farming methods become part of the regulations. In the case of the
Bœuf Blonde d'Aquitaine, even in the spring, when the cattle are in the
meadows, they have shelters, and their mothers raise their young there, and no
antibiotics or growth hormones may be used.
Escalope de Veau au Marsala –
A veal escalope prepared with Marsala wine. In Italian, this dish is called Scaloppine
al Marsala or Scaloppine di Vitello al Marsala. The escalopes are
floured, and the dish is fried in olive oil with rosemary until the escalopes
are lightly golden brown, and the only other herbs used are salt and pepper.
The Marsala sauce is made by deglazing the cooking juice with Marsala wine,
which, together with the flour, creates a thick, flavorful, slightly sweet
sauce.
Marsala –
Marsala, the port town in Sicily, is also famous as the birthplace of the Greek
mathematician and philosopher Archimedes in 278 BCE. If you know a little about
Archimedes, be careful when having a bath there; you may discover something
unexpected.
(BTW Archimedes didn't jump out of the bath in
Marsala, that story comes from another Sicilian town called Syracuse). Marsala
is a fortified wine made similarly to Port, Sherry, Madeira, and the French Vin
Doux Naturels).
Marsala the wine is used in many
Italian dishes and some French ones; the Italian dessert zabaglione, in
French became Sabayon, and is made in Italy and France with Marsala
wine. Despite all the jokes in France and Italy about British food, the Brits
and wines are never to be laughed at when it comes to the history of wines;
Britain did more for the wine industry of France, Spain and Portugal than any
other country. Marsala is another of the wines made famous by the British; this
wine was a story of one Brit's obsession. According to tradition, a British
gentleman named John Woodhouse got Nelson's fleet stocked up on Marsala wine instead
of rum, and "the rest is history."
Marsala is a fortified wine and is made in a similar
manner to Port,
Sherry, Madeira and the
French vin doux naturels. Marsala wines are used in many Italian
dishes, and quite a few French ones. Marsala wine's popularity comes, according
to tradition, through the work of a British gentleman by the name of John
Woodhouse. Woodhouse managed to get Nelson's fleet stocked up on Marsala wine
instead of rum, and the rest is history.
Marsala Virgin
Reserve DOC
Escalope de Veau à la Normande
– Veal cutlets prepared with onions, mushrooms and crème fraîche; with
many recipes for this dish including Norman cider.
Recognised as Normandy's signature veal dish, if Escalope
de Veau à la Normande is on the menu with their Label Rouge, red
label veal, then it's the best veal that Normandy offers, and you should not
pass it by. It's not surprising that Normandy has excellent veal. With so
much milk, butter, and cream coming from Normandy's cows, there is a surfeit of
young males who will not grow up to provide milk.
Crème Fraîche
has a creamy texture, and while it is not like sour cream or yogurt, neither is
it a sweet cream. Crème fraîche is a pasteurized and naturally thickened
cow's milk, with most offerings having 30% fat or more. The unique taste of crème
fraîche comes from the added milk bacteria. There is no English translation
for crème fraîche; so crème fraiche it remains.
Button mushrooms
were
the first mushrooms to be successfully farmed in any quantity, and since that
happened in Paris; the French name is Champignons de Paris.
Normandy
makes a unique contribution to French cuisine. The region supplies 30% of all
of France's cream and cow's milk and is the home of one of France's two AOP
ciders and three different Calvados
AOP apple brandies. Apart from its milk
products, Normandy is famous for its cheeses, pré-salé lambs, fresh
sea fish, farmed mussels, veal, farmed oysters, Rouen ducks, ducklings, seafood
from the Atlantic and more.
The name Normandie:
Normandy's French name comes from the
old name for the land when the Vikings lived there. Nor-man-die is
old French for "The Land of the Northern Men." William
the Conqueror, who conquered England in 1066, was a direct descendant of the
last Viking King of Normandy. One of William's descendants is the present
King of Great Britain and a few other countries.
Escalope Viennoise or Escalope de Veau
Viennoise – A Wiener Schnitzel under its French
name. The original Wiener Schnitzel is the gold standard by which
all other breaded veal cutlets are judged. Wiener Schnitzel is thinly cut
veal slices rolled in flour, then eggs and then bread crumbs, before
frying in butter or oil. When correctly cooked, a good Wiener Schnitzel
will have the bread crumbs held together by the flour but easily separated from
the veal. A Weiner Schnitzel properly made is large, thin, with a bumpy breaded
covering and one of the tastiest veal dishes.
Wiener Schnitzel is traditionally served with potato
salad, cucumber salad and a green salad along with boiled potatoes and a slice
of lemon. However, some chefs will serve the schnitzel with a lingonberry
sauce, or a thick cranberry sauce; in France, the chef may have other ideas and
French fries my be served.
The French have always
respected Viennese chefs, and when the Wiener Schnitzel was
brought to France, they did not hide the dish's origin. My Viennese,
Austrian, Grandmother, introduced me to Wiener Schnitzel at an early age and
along with Wiener Schnitzel came Apple Strudel, Kugelhof and more.
Now, some things the Viennese got right, not too many, mind you, but
Wiener Schnitzel, Apple Strudel and Kugelhof were three of them.
Weiner Schnitzel
With cranberry sauce.
Photograph courtesy of Dale Cruse
https://www.flickr.com/photos/dalecruse/32084093718/
Paillard de Veau, Beurre à l'Ail et au
Cresson – A veal escalope made with garlic, butter and watercress.
Watercress:
Watercress is likely to be the only cress that you'll see on a menu in
France. (Cresson d'Inde, Cresson du Mexique, or Cresson du Pérou are
all names for the flower Nasturtium, which is not a cress). The flower
has a slightly peppery taste similar to watercress, which explains one of its
French names, Cresson d'Inde, Indian cress. (The name Indian Cress came
from the Spanish conquistadors' mistaken belief that they had arrived in
India.)
Cresson Alénois
-
This is Ordinary cress or garden cress, the most popular cress in Britain, will
not be on many menus in France, but it is appreciated.
If you are really into watercress:
Visit the Foire Annuelle au Cresson de Méréville, the annual watercress
fair in Méréville. The fair is held from Saturday through Monday on the Easter
weekend. Check the dates on the French language website of the Méréville
town hall under March, Mars, and or April, Avril, as
Easter's dates move around every year:
If you are really into gardens: The famous Jardin de Méréville, the garden of Méréville, was a splendid and unique Anglo-Chinese Garden when it was built in 1787. Its French name is Le Domaine de Méréville. The garden was designed by the architect Bellanger and the painter Hubert Robert. It has been restored to its former glory and tickets to tour the garden may be reserved before arrival. If the garden is closed on the day you intend to be in the area, worry not; travel in any direction from Méréville, and you will find chateaux, castles, and gardens by the score. BTW, the town of Méréville, if you remember, plays an important part in Les Misérables.
Piccata de Veau – An Italian dish called Piccata di vitello that makes quite a number of menus in France. The dish is prepared by dredging the thin veal slices in flour and pan-frying them in olive oil. They are then served with a tangy, flavorful sauce made from white wine, lemon juice, butter, and capers.
The term piccata refers to a style of preparing the veal in thin, flattened slices. In France, similar terms like escalope and paillard de veau are also used to describe veal cutlets, with paillard de veau typically indicating a thinner cut than an escalope. Following this tradition a piccata is often understood to be a thinner cut than a scaloppine.
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