Italian Veal Cutlet with Ham and Fontina | Costoletta alla Valdostana
Updated: Oct 24
There are two ways to put Fontina inside a veal cutlet. One cuts a horizontal pocket into a thick chop on the bone. The other, the costoletta accoppiata, takes two thin cutlets, lays the cheese and the ham between them and presses the edges into a single sealed parcel. This recipe is the second, and everything in it is organised around one problem: keeping molten Fontina inside a crust three millimetres thick.
The cheese is not interchangeable. Fontina DOP is made in Valle d'Aosta from the whole raw milk of one milking, worked within two hours, and matured for at least eighty days in rock cellars. It melts into a smooth fluid mass without splitting into oil and curd, which is why the valley builds fonduta on it and why any other cheese behaves differently in the pan. The alpeggio wheels, made in summer on the high pastures, taste of the herbs the cows were eating and are the ones worth hunting for.
The dish itself is young. A breaded veal cutlet is Milanese and Viennese territory, and Valle d'Aosta took that idea, put its own cheese inside it and produced something that sits between a cotoletta alla milanese and a Swiss cordon bleu without being either. Made properly the crust shatters, the ham stays distinct, and the Fontina runs out the moment the knife goes in.
Yield: 4 servings. Prep: 40 minutes. Chill: 45 minutes. Cook: 18 minutes. Rest: 4 minutes. Total: about 1 hour 45 minutes. Difficulty: intermediate. Course: secondo piatto. Region: Valle d'Aosta.
The Story
Fontina is the reason this dish exists, and it is one of the most tightly regulated cheeses in Italy. The disciplinare allows only whole raw milk from Valdostana Pezzata Rossa and Pezzata Nera cows fed within the region, from a single milking, in the vat within two hours so the native flora survives. The wheels weigh 8 to 12 kg and mature at least eighty days in old rock tunnels at around 8°C with humidity close to saturation, brushed with brine and turned on alternate days. The Matterhorn stamp on the rind is the mark of the Consorzio, which has policed the name since 1957.
Within that already narrow category sits Fontina d'Alpeggio, made only between June and September in the summer dairies above 1700 metres, from cows grazing wild alpine pasture. Those wheels carry a separate mark and taste noticeably different: grassier, more mineral, with a longer finish. They are scarce and cost more, and in a dish where the cheese is the whole point they are worth it.
The cutlet arrived from outside. Milan had been breading and frying veal on the bone since at least the twelfth century, when a list of dishes served to the canons of Sant Ambrogio recorded lombolos cum panitio. Vienna had its own boneless version with a puffed detached crust, and the tale that Radetzky carried the recipe over the Alps is charming and undocumented. Valle d'Aosta, a Savoyard and French speaking crossroads with the Great Saint Bernard pass at its head, took the technique from both directions and added the only thing it had in surplus.
Ingredients
For the cutlets
Veal loin or top round, cut into 8 thin cutlets, 1 3/4 lb (800 g) total
Fontina DOP, alpeggio if available, rind removed, 6 oz (170 g)
Prosciutto cotto, thinly sliced, 4 oz (115 g)
Fine sea salt, 1 tsp (6 g), divided
Freshly ground white pepper, 1/2 tsp (1 g)
Freshly grated nutmeg, 1 small pinch
For the breading
All purpose flour, 3/4 cup (90 g)
Large eggs, 3
Whole milk, 1 tbsp (15 ml)
Fine dry breadcrumbs from stale white bread, 2 cups (200 g)
Fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp (3 g)
For frying and finishing
Clarified butter, 1 cup (240 ml)
Unsalted butter, 1 tbsp (14 g), for the last minute
Fresh sage leaves, 4
Lemon, cut into wedges, 1
Flaked sea salt, to finish
Preparation
Step 1
Cut and pound the cutlets. Ask the butcher for eight thin slices from the loin or the top round, about 3 1/2 oz (100 g) each, and match them into four pairs of similar size. Lay each between two sheets of plastic and pound it to an even 1/8 inch (3 mm) with the flat face of a mallet, working from the centre outwards. Even thickness matters more than thinness: a cutlet with a thick patch will still be raw when the crust is done.
Step 2
Prepare the Fontina. Cut the rind away completely and slice the cheese into flat slabs about 1/4 inch (6 mm) thick, sized so they sit at least 3/4 inch (2 cm) inside the edge of the smaller cutlet in each pair. Weigh them and keep each portion at about 1 1/2 oz (40 g). Overfilling is the commonest cause of a blown parcel and it is easiest to control here.
Step 3
Trim the ham. Cut the prosciutto cotto to the same outline as the cheese, slightly larger, and use two slices per parcel so the Fontina is wrapped rather than merely covered. The ham does two jobs: it seasons, and it is a barrier between the melting cheese and the wet surface of the veal, so the meat juices cannot thin the Fontina.
Step 4
Assemble and seal. Season the inner face of each cutlet lightly with salt, white pepper and a grating of nutmeg. Lay a slice of ham on the bottom cutlet, then the Fontina, then the second slice of ham, then the top cutlet. Press the whole perimeter firmly with your fingertips and then with the blunt back of a knife. You are compressing two moist protein surfaces so they bond as they cook.
Step 5
Chill the parcels. Set them on a rack, cover loosely and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Cold firm meat holds its shape through the breading and stops the parcels sliding apart. Nothing more can be added to the inside once the breading is on.
Step 6
Set up the breading station. Three shallow dishes: flour in the first; eggs beaten smooth with the milk in the second; breadcrumbs mixed with the salt in the third. Use fine dry crumbs from stale white bread and not panko, which forms a jagged open coat that cracks at the seam.
Step 7
Bread with a reinforced seam. Dredge each parcel in flour, patting off every trace of excess, then into the egg, making sure it runs right into the join, then press it into the crumbs from both faces and along every edge. Now go round the perimeter a second time, egg then crumb on the edges only. That doubled band is the wall that holds the cheese in.
Step 8
Chill again and fry. Rest the breaded parcels on a rack in the refrigerator for 25 minutes so the coating dries and grips. Heat the clarified butter to a depth of 1/4 inch (6 mm) in a wide heavy pan until it reaches 335°F (168°C). Fry two parcels at a time, 3 minutes on the first side and 2 1/2 on the second, spooning hot fat over the edges. Add the fresh butter and the sage for the final minute for aroma.
Step 9
Finish in the oven and rest. Move the fried parcels onto a rack over a tray and finish them in an oven at 350°F (175°C) for 5 to 7 minutes, until the centre of the veal reads 145°F (63°C) on a probe pushed in from the side, away from the cheese. Rest them on the rack for 4 minutes before serving. Resting on a plate traps steam and softens the crust.
Plating
Serve on a warm plate, not a hot one. A plate straight from the oven keeps cooking the underside and softens the base of the crust within a minute. Warm it until your hand can rest on it comfortably, no further.
Put the parcel down whole and let the guest cut it. Half the pleasure of the accoppiata is the moment the knife opens the seam and the Fontina runs out; a cutlet portioned in the kitchen arrives with the cheese already set.
Alongside, the valley serves almost nothing: a wedge of lemon, a few flakes of salt and the fried sage from the pan, with a plain green salad in sharp vinegar or some boiled potatoes. Anything creamy on the plate competes with the cheese already inside the meat.
Professional Technique
The governing constraint is that Fontina melts well before the veal is cooked. It becomes fluid at around 130°F (55°C), while the meat needs to reach 145°F (63°C), so for the last part of the cooking there is a pocket of liquid cheese under pressure inside a thin shell. That is why the seam is doubled and the parcel chilled twice: every structural decision buys the crust strength to survive that pressure.
Clarified butter is the correct frying medium and not a flourish. Whole butter carries milk solids that begin to brown at about 250°F (120°C) and are black long before a cutlet is cooked, while clarified butter is nearly pure fat and holds 340°F (170°C) without burning. It also tastes of butter, which oil does not, and that dairy note ties the crust to the Fontina inside.
Splitting the cooking between pan and oven is the third decision. The pan gives colour quickly but drives heat in one face at a time, and a parcel left in the fat until the centre is safe has a crust the colour of coffee. Six minutes of oven heat brings the middle up evenly while the crust barely changes.
Texture and Moisture Control
Three textures have to arrive together: a crust that cracks audibly, veal that is still moist, and cheese that is fluid rather than rubbery or oily. The crust is the fragile one. It fails when any layer is too thick: excess flour makes a pasty seam, excess egg a soft omelette layer, excess crumb falls away in sheets.
Moisture control starts with the surface of the veal. Any free water on the meat dissolves the flour into glue and the breading slides rather than sticks, so the cutlets go into the flour dry. The ham does the same work in reverse, so juices released by the veal cannot thin the Fontina and force it through the seam.
Fat temperature governs everything else. Below about 320°F (160°C) the crust absorbs fat instead of sealing and the parcel finishes heavy and greasy. Above 355°F (180°C) the outside is dark before the middle is warm. Hold 335°F (168°C), check with a probe, and let the fat recover between batches: two cold parcels pull it down 20 degrees at once.
Professional Mise en Place
The whole dish can be assembled and breaded in advance, which is what makes it workable for service.
Equipment and tools
Flat faced meat mallet and plastic sheet for pounding
Three wide shallow dishes for the breading station
Wide heavy pan for shallow frying, at least 12 inches (30 cm)
Probe thermometer for the fat and a second one for the meat
Wire racks over trays for chilling, draining and resting
Prepared ahead
Fontina sliced into weighed slabs and the ham trimmed, 1 day ahead
Clarified butter made and refrigerated, up to 2 weeks ahead
Breadcrumbs dried and sieved fine, up to 1 week ahead
Parcels assembled, sealed and breaded, up to 6 hours ahead on a rack
Service setup
Fat at 335°F (168°C) and a thermometer left in the pan
Oven at 350°F (175°C) with a rack and tray already inside
Breaded parcels cold and separated by parchment
Sage, lemon wedges, flaked salt and warm plates within reach
Chef Tips
Weigh the cheese rather than eyeballing it. Forty grams per parcel looks meagre on the board and is exactly right in the pan, because Fontina spreads as it melts. Every extra slice pushes the seam towards failure.
Make your own clarified butter. Melt 1 1/4 cups (280 g) of unsalted butter over the lowest heat, skim the foam, let the solids settle and pour off the clear gold layer. It keeps for weeks and costs a fraction of a bought jar.
Use stale bread crumbs you have dried and sieved yourself. Commercial crumbs are usually too coarse and sometimes sweetened, and a fine even crumb gives the smooth pale gold surface the dish should have.
If you cannot find Fontina DOP, do not reach for a generic supermarket fontal. Toma di Gressoney or a young Bitto behave far more closely in the pan. Both melt cleanly and carry enough alpine character to survive the ham.
Common Mistakes
Overfilling the parcel. More cheese means more pressure and a blown seam, and the escaping Fontina burns on the pan and marks the crust with bitter dark patches. Keep to about 1 1/2 oz (40 g) per parcel and let it spread on its own.
Skipping the second pass on the seam. A single coat of crumb along the edge is the weakest part of the shell and exactly where the pressure is greatest. One extra dip of egg and crumb there holds the cheese in.
Frying in whole butter. The milk solids burn well below the temperature the crust needs and leave black speckles and an acrid taste. Clarify it first, or the dish tastes scorched.
Cooking it entirely in the pan. By the time the centre reaches 145°F (63°C) in hot fat the crust is dark and bitter. Fry for colour, then finish in the oven.
Resting it on a plate. Steam collects under it within seconds and softens the base of the crust. Rest it on a wire rack for 4 minutes and move it to the plate only as it goes to the table.
Wine Pairing
Valle d'Aosta Petite Arvine: The valley white that handles fried food better than any of its reds. Petite Arvine has piercing acidity, a saline finish and a grapefruit and rhubarb aromatic that cuts straight through clarified butter, while its weight is enough to stand beside the melted Fontina. Serve it at 50°F (10°C) and it resets the palate between every mouthful.
Valle d'Aosta Enfer d'Arvier: Grown in a natural rock amphitheatre near Arvier that traps heat, which is where the name comes from, and made mainly from Petit Rouge. It is a light bodied red with alpine herb and wild raspberry aromatics and very fine tannin, which is exactly what young veal needs. Anything more structured flattens the meat; this picks up the sage and the browned crust.
Valle d'Aosta Premetta: A pale, almost rosato red from a rare local grape that ripens with almost no tannin at all. It is the most versatile bottle here, with red berry fruit and real acidity but no astringency to clash with the cheese. Serve it cool at around 55°F (13°C) and it behaves like a white with a little more body.
Nebbiolo d'Alba DOC: A step down into Piedmont for the version where the crust has taken plenty of colour and the ham is generous. Nebbiolo from Alba is lighter and earlier drinking than Barolo, with rose and sour cherry aromatics and a fine tannic grip that meets the frying fat without overwhelming veal. Pour a young bottle at 61°F (16°C).
Alta Langa DOCG: The Piedmontese metodo classico, and the classical answer to anything fried. Extended lees ageing gives it bread and hazelnut notes that run alongside the breadcrumb crust, while the mousse and the acidity scour the butter from the palate. Open it when the cutlet is the centre of a longer meal.
Storage & Reheating
Breaded uncooked parcels are the form worth storing. They keep on a rack in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for up to 12 hours, and freeze flat on a tray then stacked between parchment in a sealed box for up to 1 month. Fry them from frozen at a slightly lower 320°F (160°C) and add 4 minutes to the oven stage.
Cooked cutlets keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days in a sealed container with parchment between them. Reheat them on a wire rack in an oven at 325°F (165°C) for 10 to 14 minutes until the centre reaches 145°F (63°C). The crust recovers most of its crispness that way. Never use a microwave, which steams the crumb into a soft paste and turns the Fontina oily and grainy.
Do not freeze a cooked parcel. The cheese separates on thawing into a greasy layer that will not come back together, and the crust turns heavy on reheating. Strain the clarified butter from the pan through a fine mesh sieve and keep it refrigerated for a second frying within a week.
Nutrition
Per serving, based on 4 servings, without accompaniments:
Calories: 790 kcal
Total Fat: 47 g
Saturated Fat: 24 g
Trans Fat: 1.2 g
Unsaturated Fat: 20 g
Cholesterol: 310 mg
Sodium: 1240 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 32 g
Fiber: 2 g
Total Sugars: 3 g
Added Sugars: 0 g
Protein: 58 g
Lactose: 1.1 g
Principal micronutrients: calcium, vitamin B12, zinc, selenium, phosphorus, riboflavin
These figures are estimates. Most of the frying fat is not absorbed, so the total depends on holding 335°F (168°C); a parcel fried in cool butter carries a third more.
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