What Are the Best Tips for Cooking Veal?

Veal is meat taken from a calf. When a person wants to cook this type of beef, he can find many tips to help him do so. Among the best are those that focus on flavor enhancement and using the right temperature for various cooking methods. A person may also benefit from tips that provide food-safety information, such as those that recommend cooking it to the proper temperature and those that recommend against partially cooking veal and refrigerating it or allowing it to sit before completing the cooking process.

Some of the best tips for cooking veal are those that involve enhancing its flavor. Often, people use marinades that consist of oils and spices, cooking wines, and vinegars to marinate this type of meat. Some people even use juices for this purpose. Besides marinating, a person can also create a dry rub out of herbs and spices and rub it on the meat before cooking it. An individual may also learn from tips that recommend coating the meat with breadcrumbs or glazing it with a sauce.

Cooking temperature recommendations also generally are important considerations when cooking veal. Often, people are tempted to use high heat to cook veal, but this can have an unpleasant effect. In many cases, high heat cooks this type of meat too fast and causes it to become dried out and less flavorful. Instead, many cooking experts recommend frying, sauteing, or stir-frying veal using medium-to-high temperatures, but using medium heat when cooking veal on a grill. Braising and stewing often calls for cooking over low heat, but for roasting, medium heat may prove best.

Many tips for cooking veal include those that involve ensuring that the meat is cooked enough for safe consumption. Under-cooking this type of meat can put those who consume it at risk for food poisoning. To avoid such issues, a person can cook veal to at least 160°F (about 71.11°C). Judging whether meat is fully cooked based only on cooking times often proves inaccurate, so it typically is best to measure temperature with a meat thermometer.

Other safety tips for cooking veal focus on partial cooking. For example, a person may want to partially cook this type of meat and then refrigerate it for further cooking later. Doing so could allow bacteria to multiply and thrive, and finishing the cooking process later may not prove enough to kill bacteria. An individual can, however, partially cook veal using one method and then immediately transfer it for another method of cooking. As long as the meat is not refrigerated or allowed to sit out after partial cooking, it should not represent an increased health risk.