FEATURES
Kronner uses the whole animal, and
preparations have included air-dried loin
“bresaola,” breaded pan-fried leg cutlets
served with spicy brown butter, lemon and
rocket, roasted loin chops with celeriac mash
and grilled treviso, and a braised shoulder
with hand-cut egg noodles.
At the Milwaukee restaurants Bacchus
and Bartolotta’s Lake Park Bistro, where
he is executive chef, Adam Siegel, the
2008 James Beard winner of Best Chef:
Midwest, has free-raised veal from Strauss
Brands, Inc. on his daily menus. “I used
the group-raised before I was able to get
free-raised. It isn’t quite as dark as the
free-raised, but it is still a lot more flavorful
than what we used to get. Having veal on
the menu actually works well here, as this
is real beef country and people want more
flavor on their plate. And I notice
that when customers see free-
raised on the menu, they get it.
They want meat that is raised
humanely. And as far as cost
goes, it doesn’t cost any
more. If anything, we have
been spending a bit less
for better veal.”
Siegel recently prepared a free-raised veal
dinner that included hors d’oeuvre of veal
hangar steak brochettes, veal burgers and
veal carpaccio. Main dishes included veal
dumplings with mushroom broth, scallions
and sesame oil; veal agnolotti with arugula
pesto and preserved tomatoes; a salad of
veal dolmades; osso buco with a saffron
risotto cake; veal schnitzel with braised
red cabbage; and a filet mignon “au poivre”
with a potato mousseline and a cognac/
green-peppercorn sauce.
beginning, for instance, we might get a
veal that yielded a nine-ounce chop and
another, a 14-ounce. I had to price them
differently, which, of course, sometimes
got confusing for my regular customers.
But over time, we worked it out, and now
I not only know where my veal is coming
from and how it has been raised, but also
what size and weight I will get.”
HUMANELY RAISED
In the Boston suburb of Newton, Mass.,
Michael Leviton is chef/owner of Lumière,
a sustainably focused restaurant for which
he was designated “Best New Chef in
America” by Food & Wine in 2000 and
named to Saveur’s Top 100 in 2002.
He serves as a director on the Chefs
Collaborative Board of Overseers, and
is among the nation’s go-to chefs for an
understanding of the all-too-frequently
complex issues involved in sustainable
and socially responsible food purchasing,
sourcing and restaurant operations. To put
it simply: Purchasing veal for a restaurant
that endeavors to be local, sustainable and
responsible is not always easy.
When veal is not available through the
Vermont supplier, Leviton orders from
D’Artagnan, a Newark, N.J.-based specialty
food purveyor. Its “humanely raised”
veal is sourced through a cooperative in
upstate New York, and is group-raised.
The D’Artagnan veal goes to market at 18
weeks, before the rumen is developed, so,
theoretically, they do not need supplemental
grain. But according to D’Artagnan, the
young calves are given a “three-ounce
barley cookie, almost like a pacifier, so that
they have something to chew on.”
The Lumière menu changes daily, and
Leviton often features veal from a Vermont
cooperative that raises veal on pasture.
” We are able to source a decent amount
of locally raised pastured veal,” he says.
“Often, standardization can be an issue
when dealing with local producers. In the
However, points out Leviton, as “group-
raised” veal becomes more widespread, it
is important for chefs and consumers to
be aware that group-raised, under some
circumstances, could potentially turn into a
veal feedlot. “You must do some homework
when you are purchasing group-raised. You
want to know your supplier, its reputation,
who is raising the veal and how they are
housing and feeding the calves.”
Strauss Brands
This veal burger with Merkts cheddar
cheese was the second course of the
free-raised veal dinner prepared by Adam
Siegel at Bacchus.
Leviton purchases whole animals. “We take
off the fore and hind legs. The legs are then
“seamed out,” boned, and broken down into
individual muscles for either braising (tough
muscles) or pan-roasting (tender muscles).
The neck is also boned out and used for
