Veal Chops with Rosemary Butter

 French Fridays with Dorie

Delicious meals such as this one featuring Veal Chops with Rosemary Butter always remind me that it was just this type of preparation which first lead me to my place in the kitchen. To my way of thinking there is simply no better meal type one can cook for ones self than a big piece of meat cooked with some sort of pan gravy.  Pulling off a perfect piece of meat (or chop )is an art form.  (Yes, I am lumping veal, lamb, filet mignon, and even pork chops into this particular art medium.)

Conversely, ruining one is most definitely the devil’s work.  One needs to commit one’s self to doing all he or she can to avoid ruining a cut of cow that costs $16 per pound.

“Simple” dishes which make use of only a handful of ingredients separate the “good cooks” from the “skilled cooks” — which is why I pay particular attention when cooking a steak and continue to strive mastering what others may consider a “no brainer” dish. A good chop is anything but and while they may appear easy to prepare I don’t fall for that deception! I feel a cook who does not understand this should best save their money and buy hamburger.

A good meat-master has to have the experience to know how meat behaves under a fire or on top of one. Top or bottom cookers know which flavors are best with which meats and how to use them effectively when called for.  Even more masterful cooks know when it is time to forgo them altogether and use only salt and pepper.

When presented with a thick, juicy cut of premium meat I get humbled and feel nothing but slavish desire to do it justice. At $12 per pound could you blame me? No amount of experience will prevent the disappointment that occurs when expectations get dashed when you realize you have brought home a too fat specimen.

This is what happened to me for this particular French Friday’s with Dorie assignment.  One of my chops was so thick and fatty it could barely hold itself together while I salt and peppered it! After reading through the recipe I had my doubts that the chops I hooked up with  would cook evenly at all and wished I had not brought them home.  Still, I was determined not to waste them and so got to work.

Veal Chops with Rosemary Butter

I have finished off enough meaty chops in my day to have an inkling regarding their particular needs and preferences. I felt compelled to modify Ms. Greenspan’s instructions in order to accommodate the bigger and meatier chops this part of the country seems to favor. Fattier too. Had I cooked these chops to Ms. Greenspan’s written instructions they would have come out much too rare and undercooked and while many might prefer over-rare temperatures for regular steak (and I wouldn’t blame them) a rare veal chop does not have the same appeal. The pink color of veal is unappetizing and the delicate flavors we cherish from veal don’t fully bloom.

So I braised it much like you might a pork chop to get at the fat and cook the thick chop evenly.

These Veal Chops with Rosemary Buttter was an assignment for French Friday’s with Dorie, a cooking group working its way through Dorie Greenspan’s culinary tome “Around My French Table”. We generally avoid including the recipes in our posts. However, wherever there has been a significant adaptation by me or where the recipe has already been publicly posted by Ms. Greenspan or her publishers or by hundreds of other bloggers, or it is, in fact, not much of a recipe at all, I will either include it here (adapted) or provide a direct link to it. Please feel free to contact me via the link provided on my page if you need any assistance finding a French Friday with Dorie Recipe. You should buy the book though.

It will change your life as it has mine.