The Belly of Paris is part of Emile Zola's multigenerational Rougon-Macquart saga. I’ve read almost all of them and this is one of my favorites, next to Nana.

Florent is a wrongly accused man who escapes imprisonment on Devil's Island. He returns to Paris and finds a city changed from the one he remembers. The working class neighborhoods that he remembers have become, what we would call in this century, “gentrified”. He ends up living and working in the neighborhood of the Les Halles market, and we are audience to the intrigue and petty politics that divide the rich and poor in the city’s food industry.

One passage describes the items to be had at the butcher:

In front of her was an array of white china dishes, containing long Arles and Lyons sausages, slices of which had already been cut off, with tongues and pieces of boiled pork: then a pig’s head in a mass of jelly; an open pot of preserved sausage-meat, and a large box of sardines disclosing a pool of oil. On the right and left, upon wooden platters, were mounds of French and Italian brawn, a common French ham, of a pinky hue, and a Yorkshire ham, whose deep red lean showed beneath a broad band of fat. There were other dishes too, round ones and oval ones, containing spiced tongue, truffled galantine, and a boar’s head stuffed with pistachio nuts; while close to her, in reach of her hand, stood some yellow earthen pans containing larded veal, pate de foi gras, and hare pie.

Maybe I’ll try the truffled galantine later this year, but today I tackled the larded veal, and it was not nearly as hard as I anticipated and very, very good. It’s mentioned more than once in the book; it must have been a favorite and I can see why.

First preheat your oven to 500. Traditionally, to lard something means to insert strips of fat into the meat to make it juicier; a century ago meat was a lot drier and less fatty than it is today. There is a tool you can use that will insert hardened lard in a roast; I used strips of bacon and inserted them into slits cut into a veal breast roast. I also pushed in pieces of sliced mushrooms and a few previously roasted garlic cloves; those I found already made at the olive bar at my supermarket. I had those in so I used them, but you could just use raw cloves of garlic and it would be just as good- maybe a little stronger tasting. I found it best to make the slits in the roast with a small paring knife, and then the same knife helped me push the bacon etc down deep into the meat. I don’t think you can make a mistake by making too many filled slits. I made as many as I could before I got tired!

I used here a six pound veal roast breast. There will be rib bones underneath and a large piece of meat on top. If you can find a boneless veal roast, you can use that too and adjust for a shorter cooking time since there are no bones. I decided to make this today at the last minute and this was the only veal cut I could find.

After you have larded your roast, coat with olive oil, liberally salt and pepper, and season with fresh or dried thyme. Place the roast on a layer of vegetables, meat side up (I used carrots and they were terrific after cooking in the veal’s juice) and roast at 500 for 20 minutes. Then flip it over and roast for 10 minutes.

Finally, take the pan out, turn the meat over again (meat side up) turn the oven down to 350, and add a small amount of broth or white wine to the pan. Cover it tightly with foil and roast in the 350 oven for about 60 to 80 minutes. Check for doneness by a temperature of 155. The meat should be falling off the bone, and pulling away from the ribs underneath.

Let it rest for about 15 minutes. Slice and serve with some of the juice spooned over top and with the delicious carrots. I served baked white and sweet potatoes with this, and a salad.

Use your knife to get the strips of bacon and mushroom inside the meat. As long you add the bacon, which is the “larding” part of the recipe, you can add anything else here that you’d like. Mushrooms, onion, herbs, or garlic would all be good.

This is the veal after 20 minutes in a 500 degree oven.

Finished! This six pound roast took about 80 minutes.

I added a few sprigs of herbs to the cross cuts in the potatoes. I don’t know that it did much for the taste, but it smelled really great cooking. I rubbed olive oil on the skins and coarse salt, and baked them directly on the rack of my oven.

Are you interested to try a recipe from 1875? Instructions are limited!

From the September 9, 1875 issue of the newspaper The Southern Plantation (Montgomery, Alabama):

Loin of Veal.-This is best larded. Have every joint thoroughly cut, and between each lay a slice of salt pork; roast a fine brown, and so that the upper sides of the pork will be crisp; baste often. Season with pepper; the pork will make it sufficintly salt. (sic.)