The brisket, the heart and the neck steak: Using veal from nose to tail at U Kalendů

A restaurant and bakery on the right bank of the Vltava

The U Kalendů pub has occupied the site of the former settlement of Podskalí since the turn of the century. Today, they serve food without pizzaz and carefully treated beer, blurring the line between bakery and restaurant. Chefs make use of yesterday's bread, and the bakers experiment with unexpected ingredients – pick up a crusty loaf or something swet from the bakery, or sample fried kvass in the restaurant.

In the culinary world, veal is considered a magnificent ingredient, especially popular with chefs in Italy and Austria. It also has a tradition in this country, but after the revolution it gradually disappeared from Czech butcher shops and with it, the skill to process it properly.

Milk veal has finer muscle fibre which makes its meat stand out for its tenderness and texture, combined with a delicate flavour. This is due in part to a diet based mainly on milk. And although legislation considers an animal to be a calf up to eight months old, in practice the younger the better. But with quality also comes some challenges.

"The meat of such a young animal must be treated with respect and reverence. This is only because it is extremely delicate and its processing therefore requires a careful and experienced approach. In the same way, we should take care to prepare the veal in the kitchen and enjoy it," says František Kšána, butcher at Ambiente .

Veal is appreciated by many not only for its taste, but also for the wide range of ways to prepare it. It can be used in almost any process - from quick minutes through frying and grilling to slow roasting or stewing.

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Veal is scarce on the market mainly because calf rearing is more demanding and less economically viable for farmers than raising older cattle. Butchers from Amaso , together with their colleagues from Naše maso and Tomáš Karpíšek, set themselves a difficult goal a few years ago - to find quality veal in the Czech Republic that they and their guests would enjoy and that they could rely on for a regular supply. Where did their journey take them? To the Líšná farm in Zbiroh.

And they agreed. Farmers from Zbiroh now deliver three to four calves every month to butchers from Amaso in Jenč, specially bred and fed just for them. The agreement also works thanks to the fact that Ambiente has also been buying adult steers and heifers from the farm for a long time. The cut veal is then available for purchase in Naše maso and in Kantýna.

On the menu four days a month

But some veal will also be available U Kalendů, where they can also do a great job using veal tripe. The veal on the menu is Czech, and that brings its own pitfalls. "It is possible to find Dutch veal, but quality Czech veal is still quite rare," explains Ondřej Landa, the sous chef at the U Kalendů restaurant, adding that not every farmer wants to breed calves for meat.

"Once a month, usually in the middle of the month, Amaso processes the calves - we take some parts of them, including the intestines. We have veal specials on the menu while stocks last - usually four days.," says Ondřej.

They've been using veal at U Kalendů for about two years. And although it may seem like reward meat, it's not just that. "It's clearly not premium meat that just needs to be salted and done. You have to give it time. We have, for example, a veal neck steak that's we cook for 30 hours..." says the sous chef.

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From one calf at the Kalends' they can process almost anything. Especially the innards. "Hearts, livers, lungs, kidneys, thymus gland... The result is not much, but the customers like it. The veal often disappears immediately," says Landa.

But tripe is more work than meat. "You have to clean it, de-blanch, sometimes it's pickled in brine. You just have to know how to do it," concludes Ondřej.

Recipe: Veal thymus gland from U Kalendů

The thymus is a gland that disappears in adulthood, so only young animals have it. It is located in the underneath the neck towards the chest opening and looks like fatty tissue. How is the thymus prepared at U Kalendů?

Ingredients:

• 90 g of cleaned thymus
• pepper
• salt
• approx. 10 g of plain flour for dusting
• garlic clove
• sprig of thyme
• 20 g butter
• 1 tablespoon demi glace
• a few drops of lemon juice
• 50 g leaf lettuce
• 1-2 tablespoons sweet and sour dressing

Procedure:

1. Boil the veal thymus in boiling water for a minute.
2. Then cool in an ice bath and clean off the clots.
3. Then carve the thymus gland.
4. Salt, pepper and lightly dust the thymus gland with flour and fry it in a frying pan.
5. Add the garlic, thyme and a little butter to the pan. Drizzle with a spoonful of demi glace and a few drops of lemon. Bake "until coloured".
6. A sauce will form, in which the entire thymus gland will be glazed.
7. Serve the thymus gland with a mixed leaf salad seasoned with a sweet and sour dressing.

Source: Ambiente chefs