So, we’re looking at expanding our cooking, and there are lots of recipes for pork. Since we keep kosher in the house, we’ve always just passed those over. However, recently while thumbing through a cookbook, my wonderful wife asked me, “Hey, could we substitute veal for pork?”
I obviously have no clue. We don’t eat pork at restaurants, either. Anyone know?
I mean, obviously, veal is 'spensive and pork is cheap, but otherwise are the tastes/textures/weightiness/etc comparable enough that we could make that substitution? Anyone know?
It will work for many of the quick cooking dishes, like schnitzel and chops and stir fries. Not so great for long “low and slow” stuff like pulled pork or barbeque. Veal just doesn’t have the quantity of connective tissue you need for that.
What WhyNot said. It completely depends on the recipe.
In my experience, almost any meat can be substituted for another as long as you substitute lean for lean, fatty for fatty, and you also may have to adjust cooking time depending on what you’re substituting for what.
The problem, as WhyNot said, is that veal simply isn’t as fatty as pork, so if you’re looking at recipes that call for pork shoulder or similar fatty pieces, you’re going to have trouble. Stir fries? No problem at all. You could substitute almost anything for pork - veal, lean beef, chicken, etc.
If there’s a specific pork recipe you want to try, post it, and maybe you can get some suggestions.
Veal does not taste at all like pork, although that should not interfere with substituting in recipes. Heck, I’ve substituted pork in my favorite roast beef recipe (Graham kerr’s Roast Spiced Beef).
You can always add fat to meat, although most of the time that would be pork fat.
For slow cooked stuff I’d use brisket to get a similar effect. Good pork will be much more flavorful than veal, but there’s so much ultra lean flavorless pork out there you wouldn’t notice much difference from that. Of course if you never eat pork, you’ll never notice the difference anyway.
Yeah, in that case, you can substitute beef chuck and it’ll work pretty well, although the flavor will be different. Actually, veal shanks will work, too.
You can substitute meats all over the place, so long as you get a cut that cooks up in a similar manner to the meat you’re substituting for.
Specifically, what kind of recipes are you looking at, so we could give you specific substitutions? I’m more likely to substitute beef for pork than veal for pork. Or even lamb. But there’s pretty much no reason a pork recipe can’t be adapted for beef, provided you get the right cut and adjust times and finishing temperatures accordingly.
Thanks for the comments. When we settle down to a specific recipe, I’ll post again. At the moment, we’re still in theoretical-land… and kosher veal is very hard to get in Chicago nowadays.
I can’t remember the last time I was at a restaurant that served Wiener Schnitzel made with veal. They use chicken or pork (one I remember gave the diner the option) and call it ‘Wiener Schnitzel’. Until 2009, ‘Wiener Schnitzel’ was understood to mean a veal dish (translated page):
The SO says, ‘I’m not going to pay [$X] for a pork chop or fried chicken!’ The explanation I’ve been given in restaurants is that customers object to veal. (I’m reminded of the part of Methuselah’s Children where aliens use Lazarus Long’s taste memories for the food they grow for the Earth people, because he had lived long enough to remember ‘real’ food and had not had his tastes dulled by mediocrity.)
The first time I made Wiener Schnitzel at home, I bough the veal from a butcher. The local market told me people didn’t want to buy veal. The other (more upscale) market said they’d have to order it, and it would take two weeks. It was shockingly expensive. Fortunately, Fred Meyer sells cutlets for veal scaloppini that is the right thickness for Wiener Schnitzel, and is significantly cheaper than buying from the butcher. They also stock ground veal that can be used for meatballs.
Instead of making fried chicken fillets or breaded pork cutlets, go ahead and get some veal and make Wiener Schnitzel.
Buy veal cutlets and give them a good smack to make them 1/4" thick, or buy veal scaloppini cutlets that are already 1/4" thick. I use three pie pans for preparation. In the first, I have some flour with some salt mixed in. The second has two beaten eggs. The third has bread crumbs. I’d been using bread crumbs packaged in a tubular cardboard container. Sunday I put some unseasoned croutons in the food processor and used those. They were better. (Panko bread crumbs are similar.) Heat 1/4" oil (we use corn oil) to 350ºF. Coat the veal cutlets in the flour until they are dry. Shake off excess flour. Dip the floured cutlets into the beaten eggs. Allow excess egg to drip off. Roll the cutlets in the bread crumbs so that they are completely covered. Fry the cutlets in the oil for about four minutes, then turn and fry until they are golden brown. Serve, and top as you like. The SO likes mushroom gravy. I prefer a little lemon juice and and anchovy fillet. (But I go with the gravy, since it’s made.)
While it wasn’t called “Wiener Schnitzel”, I can’t remember a time when “Schnitzel” wasn’t available in pork. Back in the day, they just called it “Pork Schnitzel” instead of “Wiener Schnitzel” at the German restaurants my grandparents took me to.
At home, Grandma just called it all “Schnitzel”, and you had to ask if you cared what the dead animal was.
I have noticed in the last few years that they’re calling pork “Wiener Schnitzle” and I just chalked it up to the degredation of language and sighed about Kids These Days.
You’re right that it’s often made with pork these days, but the German restaurants around here (few that are left–Berghoff, Laschet’s, Chicago Brauhaus, Edelweiss etc.) make “Wiener Schnitzel” with veal. The only one I could find that doesn’t serve a veal schnitzel (Resi’s) just calls it a “schnitzel.” And the other ones have pork and chicken options, but under different names like “Schweineschnitzel” (“pork schnitzel.”)
I’ve never heard of Wiener Schnitzel being anything but veal. But that’s the way it goes with names of all sorts of things. I made Schweineschnitzel once (though I couldn’t spell it right if it I didn’t see it in the post above) , it was okay, but the texture didn’t seem quite right. I used slices of tenderloin, perhaps too thin. Anyway, Dex probably won’t make that. If there’s any reason I’d consider moving to the Chicago area it would be for the German and Polish restaurants in the area. There aren’t many here in the Northeast. They aren’t non-existent, but I’ve never noticed more than one within reasonable distance for the usual night out.
I know this sounds sacrilegious and stupid, but now I’m wondering what a schnitzel made from beef filet would be like.
ETA: Well, apparently not that stupid an idea. A restaurant in a suburb here has it on their menu (warning, link contains some QuickTime b.s. that plays Russian-style music.)
ETA2: Huh, and so does the famous Karl Ratzsch’s in Milwaukee. And I am shocked that they have a “Wiener Schnitzel” made with pork. Absolutely surprised at that one.