Recipe of the week: Veal scaloppine from New York’s master butchers

Proper butchering is becoming a lost art. Today most meat is butchered at a wholesale location, wrapped in plastic, and shipped to supermarkets. Yet at Lobel’s of New York, a butcher shop on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, the art of butchering not only endures but thrives. In their latest cookbook, Lobel’s Meat Bible (Chronicle Books), master butchers Stanley, Evan, Mark, and David Lobel have created a handy one-volume guide to identifying and choosing the best cuts of beef, veal, pork, lamb, and poultry, as well as rabbit and game birds.

They have also included such recipes as True Texas Chili and different ways of preparing tripe. Veal dishes are a particular Lobel favorite. Few dishes, they note, are “so easily prepared and so immensely satisfying to eat” as veal scaloppine, especially when served with sautéed Swiss chard and a glass of cold white wine.

Recipe of the week

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Veal Scaloppine With Prosciutto and Sage

1 lb veal scallops (6 to 8 pieces, pounded into similar shape about halfway between 1/8 and 1/4 of an inch thick)

6 to 8 large leaves fresh sage

6 to 10 paper-thin slices prosciutto di Parma, or similar cured ham

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

All-purpose flour for dredging

3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as needed

1/2 cup dry white wine

2/3 cup homemade chicken stock or canned low-sodium chicken broth

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. Put baking dish and serving plates in oven to warm. Rub one veal scallop on both sides with sage leaf without tearing leaf. Set sage leaf aside. Trim slice of prosciutto to fit more or less within dimensions of cutlet; press it into meat to help it adhere. Center reserved sage leaf on top of prosciutto. Working lengthwise, weave toothpick in and out of veal to secure prosciutto and sage, keeping veal as flat as possible. Repeat with remaining veal, prosciutto, sage leaves.

Salt and pepper the veal (salt prosciutto side of veal more lightly than opposite side). Set veal scallops and baking dish filled with cup or two of flour for dredging near stove top. Heat oil over medium-high heat in skillet large enough to hold half the veal. While oil is heating, dredge half the cutlets with flour, knocking off excess. When it begins to smoke, swirl oil to coat bottom of skillet and cook first batch, prosciutto-side down, for 45 seconds to 1 minute (heat should be high enough so edges of veal brown nicely and prosciutto gets a bit crispy; adjust heat as needed). Turn, and cook for 45 seconds or so (veal should be undercooked slightly as it will continue to cook as it sits). Transfer veal to baking dish in oven. Repeat with second batch of veal, adding more oil to skillet, if necessary. Transfer to oven to keep warm.

Let skillet cool for a few moments off heat, then reduce heat to medium, return skillet to heat. Add wine, simmer until reduced to 2 to 3 tbsp, no more than 45 seconds. Add broth, reduce to 1/3 cup, 35 to 45 seconds longer, scraping up browned bits on bottom of skillet. Add accumulated juices from veal in oven. If necessary, continue to simmer a few seconds to concentrate flavor of sauce. Taste and season with salt, if needed. Divide veal scallops between plates, attractively overlapping them in a shingle pattern. Drizzle sauce over each and serve immediately. Serves 2 to 3.