Cut from a veal loin roast, the veal loin chop is the veal equivalent of a Porterhouse or T-bone steak. They are delicious either braised or pan-fried. The most buttery, tender of all veal cuts, veal loin roasts are not cheap, but well worth the top dollar. The inclusion of tenderloin seperates this chop from a veal rib chop. The size of the chops gets less as the chops near the rib.

Veal loin chops are also among the leanest cuts in veal, along with top round, leg cutlet, arm steak, and rib chops. Many people are not aware that veal, though higher priced per pound, has very little waste on it. Actually, a pound of veal may be made into three or four healthy servings.

A loin chop will usually be 2 to 2 1/2 servings per pound, due to the bone content. Typically, a loin chop will be around 150 calories, with 5.9 grams of fat.

When looking for a good veal loin chop, don't neglect shopping online. We found a very nice online shop called MyButcher.com that offers 12, 16 and 20 ounce loin chops at great prices. They feature meats which have never been frozen, and are shipped fresh.

We've found that many mail order and online meat companies maintain frozen inventories sitting in their warehouse, and pick your order from this supply. So not only is the meat damaged from the freezing process, but you have no way to tell how old your steaks really are. Not the veal loin chops we ordered from MyButcher.com. They had such good flavor they almost melted in my mouth.

Here's the recipe we used:

4 Veal Loin Chops (cut 1" (2.5cm) thick)
1 clove of garlic halved
1½ tablespoon light olive oil 23ml
ground white pepper
½ teaspoon dried basil leaves 2ml
2 teaspoons lemon juice 10ml
Fresh basil leaves
4 lemon wedges

Rub Veal Chops with garlic and oil; sprinkle with dash of white pepper. Place chops on the rack in broiler pan so the surface of meat is 4-5inch (10-12cm) from heat. Broil 8 minutes on each side.

Sprinkle chops with dried basil the last 3 minutes of cooking and baste with lemon juice just before serving.
Garnish with fresh basil leaves. Serve with lemon wedges. Serves 4.