Falette

A traditional dish of the Auvergne, particularly the northern Aveyron in the old Rouergue, its name taken from an Occitan word of the Auvergne meaning an apron — the way the boned, opened breast of veal hangs and is folded around its stuffing. It is farmhouse festive food: a single piece of veal breast, an economical cut, made to feed many by stuffing it generously with garden chard, a little cured pork and ham, and bread. The breast of veal is standard, though an Aveyron variant uses lamb breast in the same way. No founding date attaches to so old a country preparation.

Cut warm, the veal is tender and faintly gelatinous from the braise, wrapped around a dense, moist stuffing that tastes green and savoury at once — earthy chard, salty cured pork and ham, parsley and a background of bread holding it together. The contrast is the pleasure: mild, soft meat against the well-seasoned, herb-heavy farce. Napped with its own reduced braising juices and set beside cabbage or beans, it is rich, homely and satisfying.

Breast of veal is a thin, flat cut threaded with connective tissue and cartilage — tough if roasted fast, but ideal for a long, moist braise, in which the collagen melts to gelatin and bastes the meat from within, leaving it tender and giving the sauce body. Blanching the chard first wilts it and drives off water so the stuffing is not wet, while bread and egg bind the forcemeat into a mass firm enough to slice cleanly once cooked. Browning the sewn parcel before braising builds a Maillard crust that deepens the colour and flavour of both meat and sauce. Cooked gently in wine and aromatics under cover, the whole thing stays moist as it comes slowly to tenderness.