Welcome to The Hot Dish, a behind the scenes look at the making of the dishes of the moment. Up this week, Josh Capon and Paul DiBari make a new age veal chop at their brand new East Village meat emporium.
"Everyone went nuts when Carbone charged $52 for veal parm," says chef Josh Capon indignantly, "but good meat cost money!" He knows this because he uses the same veal chops at Bowery Meat Company, the new meat-centric East Village restaurant he opened along with chef Paul DiBari. The chop in question hails from Lancaster, Penn., the heart of Amish country. That chop costs $49 for a 16 ounce at BMCo. Expensive to be sure, but at a 50% food cost to the restaurant it is not cynically priced.
"It's a great chop," says DiBari "but, veal isn't the most flavorful meat." To compensate for that, the chefs marinate the chop and give it a dry rub with a mix of cumin, coriander, fennel seed, and paprika."I am a big fan of North African spice blends" says DiBari. But the dish has other evocations as well, Capon loves veal piccata, a staple of the Italian American canon, and uses orange (in place of the traditional lemon) to bring an element of the dish to the veal chop.
Here, the chop comes with a half orange that has been charred on the grill and then topped with a dab of butter, fennel seed, and chopped parsley. It is intended to be squeezed over the veal, forming a sauce and helping the meat stay moist. Check out how Capon and DiBari bring the dish to the table in the slideshow above.
Check out the full slideshow on Eater