OLD-FASHIONED VEAL TONNATO without mayonnaise is a typical Piedmontese dish, more precisely from the Cuneo area, where it is never missing on the table for festive days as a rich and indulgent starter. As with many traditional and widespread dishes, there are many variations, but the one I provide is probably the oldest, made with hard-boiled egg yolks. The variant with mayonnaise, which probably reached the cooks of the Savoy court from nearby France, in fact appears only from the nineteenth century onwards.
The dish is quite simple to prepare, but requires some attention to detail: the marinating and cooking of the meat, which must remain tender and fragrant, and the right creaminess and saltiness of the sauce, which wonderfully completes the dish in a perfect balance between eggs, tuna, anchovies and capers, made livelier by the right amount of white vinegar.
Since ingredients never have the same saltiness, I suggest adding them gradually, tasting the sauce until it reaches the desired flavor. Then all that’s left is to enjoy this delight.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 2 Hours
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 4 servings
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 500 lb veal (from eye-round or silverside)
- 600 cups white wine
- 1 stalk celery
- 3 cloves (cloves of spice (to insert into the celery))
- 2 leaves bay leaves
- 4 leaves sage
- as needed coarse salt
- as needed water
- 125 oz tuna in oil
- 3 egg yolks (hard-boiled)
- 4 fillets anchovies in oil
- 8 capers (salted, rinsed)
- 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
Tools
- Kitchen twine
- 1 Container
- 1 Pan
- 1 Saucepan
- 1 Blender
Steps
The preparation of OLD-FASHIONED VEAL TONNATO is very simple.
Trim the piece of meat of any excess fat and any cartilage. Tie it with kitchen twine so that it keeps its shape during cooking and place it in a container.
Add the celery stalk, in which you will have stuck the cloves, cut in two or three pieces depending on its length.
Add the bay leaves and sage leaves and cover everything with the white wine. Make sure the meat is completely covered. Close with a lid or cling film and transfer to the refrigerator to macerate for 2 hours.
After two hours, transfer the meat to a pan together with the strained liquid and the sage leaves. Add enough water to cover the meat, add a handful of coarse salt, and place over medium heat.
When it starts to boil, lower the heat, cover with the lid and let it cook for 30 minutes. Remove any foam that forms on the surface with a spoon.
After 30 minutes, turn off the heat and leave the piece of meat in the pan for 1 hour. Then drain it and let it cool completely. I suggest preparing the meat the day before and storing it in the refrigerator so that it will be easier to slice.
Place the eggs in a saucepan covered with cold water. Put on the heat and when it begins to boil cook them for 6–8 minutes. Drain, let them cool and peel them.
In the blender jar place the drained tuna, the hard-boiled egg yolks (you can use the whites in a salad or to fill them with the same sauce if you have any left), the anchovy fillets, the rinsed capers, the vinegar and the oil.
Then blend everything until you obtain a smooth and homogeneous sauce. If it should turn out too thick you can add a little of the cooking water from the meat. Once ready, transfer it to the refrigerator well covered.
Once the meat is well chilled, slice it thinly with a smooth-bladed knife or even better with a slicer.
Arrange the slices of meat on a serving plate and cover them with the tonnato sauce. Decorate with some whole capers or caper berries if you have them.
STORAGE
You can store veal tonnato in the refrigerator for 2–3 days.
If you think you will not use all the meat, do not slice the entire piece and wrap it again in cling film.
