Italian Piedmontese Veal with Tuna Sauce | Vitello Tonnato Piemontese
There are two vitelli tonnati and Piedmont has been arguing about them for a hundred years. The older carries no egg at all: tuna, anchovy and caper pounded to a paste and slackened with olive oil and a little of the veal cooking liquid, so the sauce is savoury and loose. The younger folds that same paste into mayonnaise, which makes it pale, thick and sweet edged. Only one of them is what the dish was.
This version takes the older road. The sauce is built without mayonnaise and tastes of the sea rather than of emulsified egg. The veal is not boiled either: it is cooked at a controlled low temperature to a core of 135°F (57°C), which keeps it rose coloured and yielding where simmering would leave it grey and tight.
The remaining decision is the cut. Magatello, called girello elsewhere in Italy and eye of round in English, is the classic choice: a lean uniform cylinder that slices into perfect discs. Punta d'anca, from the top of the rump, is for cooks who want flavour over geometry. This recipe is written for magatello and says what changes if you take the other road.
Yield: 6 appetizer servings or 4 main course servings. Prep: 40 minutes. Cook: 2 hours 30 minutes at low temperature. Chill: 8 hours minimum. Difficulty: intermediate. Course: antipasto or secondo freddo. Region: Piedmont, the Monferrato and the Langhe.
The Story
Pellegrino Artusi settles the question of what the original sauce was. In La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene, published in Florence in 1891, his vitello tonnato takes a piece of veal larded with anchovy, cooked, cooled and sliced, then dressed with pounded tuna and anchovy let down with oil and lemon. There is no egg in it and no mayonnaise. Artusi was writing down what was already old, and earlier Piedmontese household manuscripts describe the same thing.
Mayonnaise entered later, and from the restaurant rather than the kitchen table. As commercial mayonnaise became cheap and reliable after the Second World War, folding tuna into it gave a sauce that was faster, whiter, steadier on a buffet and far more forgiving. By the 1970s most Italians under forty had never tasted the other version. Piedmontese cooks of a certain age still call it tonnata all'uso moderno, which is polite rather than complimentary.
The dish itself is older than both arguments and is not, despite the tuna, a dish of the coast. Piedmont is landlocked. Salted tuna and anchovy travelled inland along the old salt roads from Liguria over the Colle di Nava, carried by the anchovy sellers who supplied every market from Cuneo to Casale. Bagna caoda, acciughe al verde and vitello tonnato are all children of that trade, and all three use fish as a seasoning rather than as a main ingredient.
Ingredients
For the veal
Veal magatello, also sold as girello or eye of round, 2 lb (900 g) in one piece
Extra virgin olive oil, mild, 3 tbsp (45 ml)
Dry white wine, 1 cup (240 ml)
Carrot, 1 small
Celery stalk, 1
Yellow onion, 1 small
Bay leaves, 2
Black peppercorns, 1 tsp (3 g)
Fine sea salt, 2 tsp (12 g)
For the tuna sauce without mayonnaise
Tuna in olive oil, drained weight, 7 oz (200 g), oil reserved
Salted anchovy fillets, rinsed, 5
Salted capers, rinsed and soaked, 2 tbsp (18 g)
Hard boiled egg yolks, 2, cooked 9 minutes and cooled
Extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 cup (120 ml), plus the reserved tuna oil
Lemon juice, freshly squeezed, 2 tbsp (30 ml)
Veal cooking juices, strained and chilled, 4 to 6 tbsp (60 to 90 ml)
Freshly ground white pepper, to taste
For finishing
Salted capers, rinsed, 1 tbsp (9 g)
Flat leaf parsley leaves, small, 12
Extra virgin olive oil, a few drops per plate
Lemon zest, finely grated, from 1/2 lemon
Coarse black pepper, to taste
Preparation
Step 1
Trim and tie the magatello. Remove the thin silver membrane running along one side, which contracts hard on heating and bows the piece out of shape. Tie the veal at 1 inch (2.5 cm) intervals with butcher twine, firmly enough to round the cylinder without strangling it. Left untied it cooks into an oval and slices into ovals, and the round discs are half the reason this dish looks the way it does.
Step 2
Salt and rest the meat. Season the tied piece all over and leave it uncovered on a rack in the refrigerator for 2 hours, or overnight. Salt applied early dissolves surface proteins and is drawn inward, seasoning the muscle through rather than leaving a salty skin over a bland centre. The surface dries too, which matters for the browning.
Step 3
Brown the veal without cooking it. Heat the olive oil in a heavy pan over medium high heat and colour every face, 6 to 8 minutes in total. You want a light even gold, not a dark crust: this is a cold dish and aggressive roasted flavour sits badly against tuna. Lift the veal out and deglaze the pan with the white wine.
Step 4
Cook at low temperature to 135°F (57°C). Put the veal in a snug pot or an oven bag with the deglazed wine, the carrot, celery, onion, bay and peppercorns. Hold it at 160°F to 165°F (71°C to 74°C) in a low oven or water bath for about 2 hours 30 minutes, until a probe in the centre reads 135°F (57°C). A traditional boil drives the core past 175°F (80°C) and squeezes out the juice that makes the dish.
Step 5
Cool the veal in its own liquid. Let it come to room temperature still submerged, about an hour, then refrigerate it in the liquid for at least 8 hours. It keeps absorbing moisture and aromatics as it cools, while a piece chilled out of its liquid dries at the surface and slices with a grey rim. Never slice it warm.
Step 6
Strain and settle the cooking juices. Pass the liquid through a fine mesh sieve, discard the vegetables and refrigerate it. A firm layer of fat sets on top overnight and lifts off in one piece, and the jellied liquid underneath is the most concentrated veal flavour in the kitchen. It is what ties the sauce to the meat; using water or stock instead is the usual reason a homemade tuna sauce tastes flat.
Step 7
Build the sauce without mayonnaise. Rinse the anchovies and soak the capers for 10 minutes to pull their harshness back. Blend the drained tuna, anchovies, capers, egg yolks and lemon juice to a smooth paste. Then, with the motor running, pour in the reserved tuna oil followed by the olive oil in a thin steady thread, exactly as you would build a mayonnaise. The cooked yolks and the tuna proteins hold the emulsion without any raw egg.
Step 8
Slacken, season and rest the sauce. Blend in the chilled veal juices a spoonful at a time until the sauce falls from the spoon in a slow ribbon. Grind in white pepper and taste before adding salt, since anchovy, caper and tuna have already brought a great deal. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours: a freshly blended sauce tastes sharp and disjointed, and the rest lets the fish and the acidity settle together.
Plating
Slice the chilled veal across the grain at about 1/8 inch (3 mm), wiping the blade between cuts. Thinner slices tear and thicker ones chew, and either failure is obvious on a plate with nothing else on it. Cut only what you are serving and keep the rest whole.
Use flat plates straight from a cool cupboard, never warmed. Spoon a thin film of sauce down first, lay the slices over it in a single overlapping layer rather than a pile, then ribbon more sauce across the middle and leave the edges bare. Veal fully blanketed in sauce hides the one thing worth seeing, the rose colour of correctly cooked meat.
Scatter the rinsed capers over the sauce rather than over the bare veal, add a few small parsley leaves, a grating of lemon zest and a few drops of olive oil. Grind coarse pepper over the plate at the last second. Serve at around 57°F (14°C), which means letting the plated dish stand 15 minutes before it goes to the table.
Professional Technique
The emulsion defines this version, and it works without mayonnaise because three emulsifiers are already present. Cooked egg yolks still carry lecithin, though less available than in raw yolk. Tuna and anchovy contribute soluble muscle proteins that coat oil droplets readily. The chilled veal juices bring dissolved gelatin, one of the best natural stabilisers in the kitchen. Together they hold half a cup of olive oil in suspension without a raw egg, which is why the sauce keeps for days.
Low temperature cooking is the second, and the numbers explain the argument. Veal muscle fibres begin contracting around 140°F (60°C) and expel water hard above 150°F (65°C). A traditional simmer holds the pot near 205°F (96°C) and drives the core well past that, which is why boiled vitello tonnato is pale and dry and needs a thick sauce to be edible. A bath at 160°F to 165°F (71°C to 74°C) brings the centre to 135°F (57°C) slowly and stops there.
The choice between magatello and punta d'anca is technical, not a preference. Magatello is a single lean muscle with fibres running the length of the piece, so it slices into flawless discs but has little intramuscular fat and punishes overcooking at once. Punta d'anca has more fat and connective tissue, so more flavour and more forgiveness, but its muscle groups run in different directions and the slices are irregular. Using it, take the core to 138°F (59°C).
Texture and Moisture Control
Cold meat is unforgiving because chilling firms everything that was already firm. Veal taken to 135°F (57°C) and cooled in its liquid stays supple and translucent at the edge, while the same cut taken to 160°F (71°C) feels acceptable warm and turns to cardboard in the refrigerator. That is why the probe matters more than the clock.
The sauce has its own failure mode. Added too fast, the oil breaks out of suspension and the sauce turns thin and oily, and unlike a mayonnaise there is no raw yolk to rescue it with. Pour in a thin steady thread and stop the moment it turns glossy and opaque. If it splits, blend a third hard boiled yolk with a spoonful of veal jelly and drip the broken sauce into that.
Consistency drifts between kitchen and table, so judge it cold. The sauce tightens in the refrigerator as the gelatin sets, and one that ribboned at room temperature can sit like a paste two hours later. Check it again before service and loosen it with cold juices or a few drops of lemon, never with water.
Professional Mise en Place
Everything here is made ahead. The veal needs a night in its liquid and the sauce a rest of its own, so on the day of service the only work is slicing and plating.
Equipment and tools
Instant read probe thermometer, the one piece of equipment this recipe cannot do without
Low oven, immersion circulator or heavy pot with a reliable low flame
Butcher twine and a long thin bladed slicing knife, or a slicer
High speed blender and a fine mesh sieve
Shallow container for chilling the veal fully submerged
Prepared ahead
Veal salted 2 hours to overnight, tied and browned
Veal cooked to 135°F (57°C) and chilled overnight in its liquid
Cooking juices strained, chilled and the set fat lifted off
Tuna sauce built and rested at least 2 hours, up to 2 days
Capers rinsed and soaked, parsley picked, lemon zested
Service setup
Veal kept whole and cold, sliced only to order
Sauce checked for consistency and loosened with cold veal juices if needed
Plates cool, never warmed
Garnishes and finishing oil lined up within reach
Plated dishes brought to 57°F (14°C) for 15 minutes before service
Chef Tips
Buy tuna packed in olive oil and use that oil in the sauce. Tuna in brine or sunflower oil gives a sauce that tastes thin and vaguely metallic, and no amount of anchovy corrects it. Ventresca, the belly cut, is best of all, because its fat carries the emulsion.
Use salted anchovies and salted capers rather than the vinegar packed versions. Vinegar pushes the sauce acidic before you have added any lemon and flattens the fish character the dish is built on. Rinse both and soak the capers ten minutes.
If you have no probe thermometer, do not attempt the low temperature method. Use the traditional simmer, accept the drier result and make the sauce looser to compensate. Guessing at 135°F (57°C) by eye is how people end up with an expensive piece of grey meat.
Make the whole dish a day ahead. Both elements improve overnight. Keep the veal in one piece and the sauce in a sealed jar, and assemble in the hour before serving.
Common Mistakes
Boiling the veal. A full simmer drives the core past 175°F (80°C) and squeezes out the juice both the meat and the sauce depend on. Hold the bath at 160°F to 165°F (71°C to 74°C) and pull the veal at 135°F (57°C).
Slicing the veal before it is thoroughly cold. Warm veal tears under the blade and the slices come away ragged. Chill it at least 8 hours in its own liquid and slice straight from the refrigerator.
Building the sauce on commercial mayonnaise. It brings sugar, vinegar and sunflower oil that push the sauce pale and sweet and bury the tuna. Cooked yolks, tuna protein and veal gelatin hold the emulsion perfectly well on their own.
Serving the dish straight from the refrigerator. At 39°F (4°C) the fat in the sauce is stiff and the aromas shut down. Fifteen minutes at room temperature brings it to around 57°F (14°C), where both open up.
Wine Pairing
Roero Arneis DOCG: The Piedmontese white closest to this dish. Grown on the sandy left bank of the Tanaro, it has pear and white flower aromatics over a dry, faintly bitter almond finish, and that bitterness keeps the oil in the sauce from coating the palate. Enough body to carry the fish without competing with it.
Gavi DOCG: Cortese from the south eastern corner of Piedmont, and the sharpest knife on this list. High green apple acidity and a saline edge cut straight through the emulsified olive oil and answer the anchovy and caper salt. Serve it at 46°F (8°C) when the sauce is on the richer side.
Erbaluce di Caluso DOCG: A high acid white from the moraine hills north of Turin, leaner and more mineral than Arneis, with citrus peel and a stony finish. It has the tension to stand up to capers, which defeat most soft whites, and its restraint suits the older sauce better than a fruit driven bottle.
Alta Langa DOCG: Piedmont's metodo classico, the choice when this opens a long meal. The bead scrubs fat off the palate between slices while the bread and hazelnut of the lees echoes the cooked yolk in the sauce. Take a brut rather than an extra dry: sweetness fights the anchovy.
Nebbiolo d'Alba DOC: The red option, for anyone who refuses a white with meat, and it works if chosen carefully. A young unoaked bottling served at 57°F (14°C) has rose and sour cherry aromatics and enough acidity for the lemon, while its tannin stays fine enough not to clash with the tuna. Anything older or oaked overwhelms the plate.
Storage & Reheating
Keep the veal in one piece, submerged in its strained cooking liquid, in a sealed container for up to 3 days. Stored this way it slices as cleanly on day three as on day one. Sliced veal is different: the cut faces dry and darken within hours, so lay leftover slices flat with sauce between them, covered, for no more than 24 hours.
The sauce keeps refrigerated in a sealed jar for up to 3 days and is best on the second. It contains no raw egg, which is why it holds, but it tightens as the gelatin sets, so bring it back with a spoonful of cold veal juices and a brief whisk. Do not freeze it: the emulsion breaks irreversibly on thawing.
The veal can be frozen whole in its liquid for up to 2 months, though the texture loosens and the rose colour fades. Thaw it slowly in the refrigerator, never in water. There is no reheating step anywhere in this recipe: vitello tonnato is a cold dish, and warming it turns the sauce oily and the meat grey.
Nutrition
Per serving, based on 6 appetizer portions:
Calories: 480 kcal
Total Fat: 34 g
Saturated Fat: 6 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Unsaturated Fat: 27 g
Cholesterol: 155 mg
Sodium: 780 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 2 g
Fiber: 0 g
Total Sugars: 1 g
Added Sugars: 0 g
Protein: 39 g
Lactose: 0 g
Principal micronutrients: vitamin B12, niacin, selenium, phosphorus, vitamin D, omega 3 fatty acids, zinc
These figures are estimates. Sodium depends heavily on how thoroughly the anchovies and capers are rinsed. Serving 4 main course portions instead of 6 raises every value by roughly half.
Comments