Meaning & use
veal meat
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Meanings
noununcountable
The meat of a young cow, eaten as food and usually pale and tender.
Grammar: Uncountable: it has no plural, so say 'some veal meat' or 'a cut of veal meat', never 'veal meats' for the food.
Patterns
- veal meat from something
- a cut of veal meat
- cook/serve veal meat
The restaurant serves veal meat with a light lemon sauce.
She bought a pound of veal meat from the butcher for Sunday lunch.
Veal meat is paler and softer than beef from an older animal.
noununcountable
This meat used as an ingredient in a particular dish or product.
Grammar: Still uncountable, but it often comes before another noun to name a dish: veal meat sauce, veal meat pie.
Patterns
- veal meat sauce/pie/balls
- a veal meat dish
The menu lists a veal meat pie with mushrooms.
He made veal meat balls and served them with rice.
Frozen veal meat products must show the country of origin on the label.
Common combinations
- a cut of veal meat
- This is an expensive cut of veal meat, so cook it quickly.
- veal meat from a butcher
- We always get our veal meat from a butcher rather than a supermarket.
- tender veal meat
- Slow cooking makes even tough veal meat tender.
- ground veal meat
- Mix the ground veal meat with breadcrumbs and herbs.
- veal meat production
- Veal meat production is strictly regulated in many countries.
- veal meat dish
- The chef prepared a classic veal meat dish for the wedding.
Synonyms and how they differ
- veal
- The usual short form, and the one to use in normal speech and writing; veal meat sounds slightly more technical or menu-like.
- calf meat
- A literal but uncommon description; it is not the standard term in shops or restaurants, so learners should avoid it.
Opposites
Word family
- veal noun
- The same meat, used far more often than the longer phrase veal meat.
- vealer noun
- A calf raised for this meat, used mainly in Australian and New Zealand farming.
Commonly confused: veal meat or veil? veal meat or beef?
veal meat vs veil
Veil is a piece of thin cloth worn over the face, and it sounds exactly the same as veal; the spelling difference is the only clue in writing.
veal meat vs beef
Beef comes from adult cattle and is darker and stronger in taste, while veal comes from a young animal and is pale and mild.
Practice
Which sentence uses the food word correctly?
Choose one answer.
Veal meat is uncountable, so it takes words like some or a piece of, not a plural or the article a. Options with 'three veal meats', 'a veal meat' and 'many veal meat' all treat it as a countable noun, which English does not allow here.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “veal meat”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.