Veal Soup with Macaroni

Ingredients

• 3 lb veal knuckle or scrag
• 3 qt water
• 0.25 lb Italian macaroni
• butter

Method

Fracture the veal knuckle and break the meat into rough 5cm chunks — this exposes more surface area to the water and accelerates the stock extraction. Place the meat cold in the pot with 3 litres of water and bring to a rolling boil. The vigorous agitation forces the collagen into suspension and creates that opaque, milky broth you're after. After two minutes, when the surface is clouded with grey scum, strain everything through fine mesh and rinse the meat under cold water to remove the albumen coating. Return the cleaned meat to fresh cold water and bring back to the boil, then lower to a gentle but constant simmer — you want a steady column of steam rising from the surface, not an aggressive rumble. This takes roughly two and a half to three hours. The meat will shred easily when done; taste a piece to confirm it's tender enough to break with your tongue. Reserve the boiling|broth once the meat collapses into fibrous scraps — if you've simmered it properly, you'll have a rich, gelatinous liquid that sets into aspic when cold.

Boil the macaroni separately in fresh water — breaking the pieces into roughly 2cm lengths stops them softening to paste in the broth later. Cook it until the bite has just gone from the centre but there's still a slight resistance, around twelve minutes depending on your brand. Add a walnut of butter just as it reaches this point, which emulsifies into the surface water and stops the pieces sticking. Reserve this pasta water as well.

Combine the strained meat-reduction|veal reduction with the drained macaroni, then add enough of the pasta cooking water to thin it back to a soup consistency — the starch in that water will also coat the pasta lightly and bind the finished dish. Bring everything back to a rolling boil for two minutes to meld the flavours, then ladle into heated bowls. Taste and season with salt and black pepper.