beef: pale, delicate in flavor, with a softer fat,
and succulently tender thanks to its soluble
collagen, which readily dissolves into gelatin
when cooked. Calf flesh becomes more like
beef with every day of ordinary life, so most
veal calves aren’t allowed an ordinary life:
they’re confined so that exercise won’t
darken, flavor, and toughen their muscles, and
fed a low-iron diet with no grass to minimize
the production of myoglobin pigment and
prevent rumen development (p. 13), which
would saturate and thus harden the fat. In the
United States, veal generally comes from
confined animals fed a soy or milk formula
and slaughtered between 5 and 16 weeks old,
when they weigh 150 to 500 lb/70–230 kg.
“Bob” or “drop” veal comes from unconfined,
milk-fed animals three weeks old or less.
“Free-range” and “grain-fed” veal have
become increasingly common as more
humane alternatives, but are more like beef in
the color and flavor of their meat.
barry
(Barry)
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