Vitello tonnato
A Piedmontese starter whose combination sounds absurd — veal under tuna sauce — and works because the delicate, mild veal gets from the sauce a saltiness and depth it lacks on its own. Two things decide it. The meat cools in its broth, because lifted out hot it dries quickly. And it is sliced cold, very thin — in thick slices the sauce gets lost and the meat seems dry.
Your own work in that: 20 min.
- Poaching the veal 70 min
- Cooling in the broth 240 min
- Tuna sauce 15 min
- Assembly 20 min
- Chilling under the sauce 60 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneTie the meat tightly
Tie the topside with string every 3 cm, shaping an even cylinder. Untied, the meat spreads as it cooks and the slices come out irregular — and in this dish the look of the slice is half the effect.
Ingredients: 900 g veal · 2 pcs carrots · 2 pcs celery · 1 pcs onion · 300 ml white wine · 1000 ml water · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 tsp peppercorns · 2 tsp salt
Poach in broth with wine
Cover the meat with the water and wine, add the vegetables, bay, pepper and salt and bring to the boil (about 10 minutes). Lower the heat and cook 60 minutes with the surface barely trembling. Veal is lean — a rolling boil would tighten the fibres and dry the meat.
Ingredients: 900 g veal · 2 pcs carrots · 2 pcs celery · 1 pcs onion · 300 ml white wine · 1000 ml water · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 tsp peppercorns · 2 tsp salt
The surface barely moves — lean veal cannot take a boil.Cool the meat in its broth
Take the pot off the heat and leave the meat in the broth until it has cooled (about an hour), then put the pot in the fridge for at least 3 hours (overnight is fine). The crucial step: lifted out hot the meat loses moisture and turns dry and grey.
Ingredients: 900 g veal · 2 pcs carrots · 2 pcs celery · 1 pcs onion · 300 ml white wine · 1000 ml water · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 tsp peppercorns · 2 tsp salt
Blend the sauce smooth
Blend the tuna with the anchovies, capers, lemon juice and oil to a smooth paste, then stir in the mayonnaise with a spoon. A brief stir is enough and the sauce keeps its body.
Ingredients: 200 g tinned tuna · 200 g mayonnaise · 4 pcs anchovy fillets · 2 tbsp capers · 1 pcs lemon · 3 tbsp olive oil
Mayonnaise stirred in by hand, not blended.Adjust the sauce
The sauce should be as thick as cream but pourable — it has to run over the slices and coat them. If too thick, thin it with a spoonful of the veal poaching broth, not water: the broth adds flavour, water dilutes it.
Ingredients: 200 g tinned tuna · 200 g mayonnaise · 4 pcs anchovy fillets · 2 tbsp capers · 1 pcs lemon · 3 tbsp olive oil
Slice the cold meat very thin
Take out the cold meat, remove the string and slice it with a long sharp knife into slices about 2 mm thick. Cold meat cuts cleanly; warm it breaks up under the knife and the slices come out ragged.
Ingredients: 900 g veal · 2 pcs carrots · 2 pcs celery · 1 pcs onion · 300 ml white wine · 1000 ml water · 2 pcs bay leaves · 1 tsp peppercorns · 2 tsp salt
Two millimetres — only when cold.Layer the slices and sauce
Lay the slices overlapping on a flat platter, spoon over some sauce, add a second layer and repeat. Layering the sauce gets it everywhere — poured only on top it runs to the edges of the plate.
Ingredients: 200 g tinned tuna · 200 g mayonnaise · 4 pcs anchovy fillets · 2 tbsp capers · 1 pcs lemon · 3 tbsp olive oil
Chill an hour and garnish
Cover with film and chill an hour so the meat takes up the sauce. Before serving scatter with capers, grated lemon zest, parsley and pepper. Serve cool but not straight from the fridge — very cold sauce tastes muted.
Ingredients: 2 tbsp capers · 1 pcs lemon · 2 tbsp parsley · ½ tsp black pepper
Before you start
The version without mayonnaise
Older Piedmontese versions do without mayonnaise: the sauce is tuna, anchovy, capers, olive oil and lemon juice thinned with broth; some households thicken it with hard-boiled egg yolks. It is punchier and less creamy — and many consider it better.
The broth is not waste
Over a litre of veal and wine broth remains. Strain and freeze it — an excellent base for risotto and sauces. Some of it goes into the tuna sauce anyway, so it is already part of the recipe.
Two days in the fridge
Vitello tonnato is better the next day, once the meat has fully taken up the sauce. It keeps two days in the fridge under film. It is a dish made for advance preparation — usually in the morning for lunch, or the day before.
