Vitello
Tonnato
Piedmontese veal with tuna sauce
Thin slices of chilled veal sit beneath a smooth tuna, egg and caper sauce, bringing mild meat and savory fish together.
Thin veal slices, tuna sauce & caper berriesCool veal,
a savory Piedmontese sauce.
Vitello tonnato pairs thinly sliced veal with a smooth sauce of tuna, eggs, capers and anchovies. The mild meat gives the sauce room to stand out, while lemon adds a little sharpness. It is served cool, often with capers or caper berries on top.
This is a familiar antipasto in Piedmont, although larger portions can be a main course. Sauce recipes vary, including versions made with mayonnaise. The home preparation below uses hard-boiled eggs and a little cooled poaching broth, with enough chilling time to make the veal easier to slice thinly.
Explore by food: Fish & seafood · Meat
At the table: Antipasti · Secondi.
Let’s make vitello tonnato.
Poached veal and a hard-boiled-egg tuna sauce, with a four-hour refrigerator chill. Use a thermometer and a sharp slicing knife.
Six antipasto portions or four light main portions, from one 800 g veal eye of round.
What you’ll need
Veal
- 800 gtrimmed veal eye of round, tied with kitchen string
- 2 lwater, for poaching
- 200 mldry white wine
- 100 gcarrot, cut into chunks
- 100 gonion, halved
- 60 gcelery, cut into chunks
- 1bay leaf
- 6black peppercorns
- 1 tspfine salt
Sauce and finish
- 2 largeeggs
- 1 lwater, for boiling the eggs
- 150 gtuna canned in olive oil, drained
- 20 gcapers in brine, drained
- 2anchovy fillets in oil, drained
- 45 mlextra-virgin olive oil
- 20 mlfresh lemon juice
- 60 mlreserved poaching broth, chilled
- 6caper berries, drained, for serving
- ½lemon, cut into wedges, for serving
- to tasteblack pepper
Cooling
- as neededice and cold water, for cooling baths
Rest/chill allows 30 minutes for the veal’s initial rest and rapid cooling, four hours in the refrigerator and five minutes to cool the eggs. Cooking allows for heating both pans and the upper poaching time. The home endpoint is thermometer-led; color alone does not establish doneness.
How to make it
- 01
Prepare the poaching liquid
Put the 2 l water, wine, carrot, onion, celery, bay, peppercorns and salt in a snug pot large enough for the veal. Bring to a simmer.
- 02
Poach by temperature
Add the veal; the liquid should just cover it. Keep at a very gentle simmer with the lid ajar. Begin checking after 30 minutes and cook until the center reaches at least 63°C/145°F, usually 40–60 minutes depending on thickness. Lift onto a clean plate and rest for at least 3 minutes.
- 03
Cool and chill promptly
Reserve 60 ml broth in a small container. Put the veal in a shallow container and stand it, and the broth container, in ice and cold water for the rest of a 30-minute cooling period, keeping bath water out. Refrigerate promptly and chill for at least 4 hours until cold throughout; do not leave the meat cooling in the large hot pot.
- 04
Cook the eggs
After the veal has chilled, put the eggs in a small saucepan with the 1 l water. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes. Cool in ice water for 5 minutes, then peel.
- 05
Blend the sauce
Blend the hard-boiled eggs, drained tuna, capers, anchovies, oil and lemon juice until smooth. Blend in the chilled reserved broth a little at a time until the sauce spreads easily; use only as much as needed. Season with black pepper.
- 06
Slice and serve
Remove the string and cut the cold veal across the grain into slices about 2 mm thick. Arrange on six starter plates, spoon over the sauce and finish with caper berries and lemon wedges. Keep chilled until serving.
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