A nicely cooked veal chop — a splurge at $36 — was topped with a heap of generic sautéed mushrooms.
He cooks veal shank with vegetables and seasonings in the bags, and occasionally capons and lamb shanks.
Veal saltimbocca, however, was lovely: thin, nicely cooked veal scallops, judiciously layered with thinly cut prosciutto and mozzarella and sauced with a sherry demi-glace that added a nice edge to the ensemble.
The scholarship finalists cooked veal orloff, a preposterously frilly dish involving roast veal cut from the bone, sliced, stuffed and squeezed into a cavity made from the bones, slathered in bechamel and truffles, and baked.
Pinkly cooked veal kidneys in a light mustard sauce (£6.50) and grilled whole plaice with boiled potatoes and spinach (£13.20) showed more promise, but a wedge of quince and almond tart (£5.50) was a trial, my fork almost doing a Uri Geller trying to crack the pastry.
Cook the veal in batches, turning until browned on all sides, and remove.
This fall, in an exhibit at the Palais des Beaux-Arts, in Paris, you can see the "black meteorite" sculpture of carbon ashes, ground coffee, flour, and egg whites in which he had cooked a veal tongue — an image that came to him while thinking (out loud) about the artist Lucio Fontana's mid-century series "Concetto Spaziale".
Serves 8. 3 cups diced cooked beef, veal, or chicken.
A lobster risotto was disconcertingly green and its flavors muddled; red snapper was a little overcooked, and the only contribution made by an underlying layer of artichokes was a jarring note of bitterness, and a beautifully cooked piece of veal was overshadowed by a too-sweet sauce.
