P
Italian · Alba, Piedmont
Carne Cruda all'Albese
Alba's raw veal tartare — fassone bovine breed only, hand-chopped with a knife into fine but detectable pieces (never minced by machine), dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and white pepper. In season, shaved truffle transforms it into the centrepiece of the Piedmontese table. The fassone breed's lean, delicate meat is the reason this dish exists — the muscle has near-zero intramuscular fat with a clean, sweet flavour that stands well raw. Machine-mincing would destroy the texture that defines the dish.
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I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
600 g
Fassone Piemontese veal
a single lean muscle, all sinew removed, frozen 2 hours before preparation
Your own market
1
Sfusato Amalfitano lemon (or similar aromatic variety)
juiced at service only
Your own market
4 tbsp
Ligurian DOP extra-virgin olive oil
subtle, not robust
Your own market
1 tsp
fleur de sel
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
½ tsp
white pepper
freshly ground
Your own market
In season (October–December)
1
Alba white truffle
shaved at table
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
To serve
40 g
rocket leaves
dressed with a few drops of olive oil only
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
II
The Method
1
Remove the veal from the freezer. Working on a cold board, use a sharp chef's knife to slice the meat first into thin strips, then across into a fine dice of approximately 3 mm. The pieces must remain distinct — no smearing, no paste. The surface of each piece should appear cleanly cut, not torn.
2
Arrange a bed of rocket leaves on each cold plate. Transfer the hand-chopped veal directly from board to plate without delay. The meat should be firm and cold to the touch — at 4 °C.
3
Dress immediately before service: squeeze lemon juice over the meat, drizzle with Ligurian DOP olive oil, scatter fleur de sel, and finish with freshly ground white pepper. The surface of the meat should glisten with oil and show the faint opacification of lemon contact — do not dress in advance.
4
Where Alba white truffle is available, shave it at table directly over the dressed tartare. The truffle's aroma should be immediate and pronounced the moment the shaver passes across it.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Certified Fassone Piemontese from a named breeder, dry-aged lightly and butchered to order; Sfusato Amalfitano lemon; single-estate Ligurian DOP oil; fresh Alba white truffle (October–December) shaved at table.
02
Estate — Fassone Piemontese from a reliable Piedmontese supplier with documented provenance; good aromatic lemon; quality Ligurian DOP oil; truffle if in season, truffle oil strictly avoided as a substitute.
03
Market — Fassone Piemontese sourced through a specialist butcher; any aromatic thin-skinned lemon; a neutral, high-quality extra-virgin olive oil. No truffle out of season.
04
House — Fassone Piemontese remains mandatory at every rung — no substitution of breed is permissible. Without it, the dish is not Carne Cruda all'Albese.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. Each piece of chopped veal is firm, cold, and discrete — no pieces cling together or show any paste-like compression from the knife.
◇Sight. The dressed meat glistens with oil and shows the faint whitening at the surface where lemon juice has just begun to act — no deeper opacification, which would indicate over-dressing in advance.
◇Smell. The aroma is clean and lactic, with lemon brightness above it; where truffle is present, its scent is immediate and dominant the moment it is shaved.
◇Touch. The plate itself is cold to the hand — the meat resting on it registers at 4 °C, not room temperature.
◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies on the hand-chopping: a sharp knife must produce a clean 3 mm dice with detectable, separate pieces — machine-mincing collapses cell structure into paste and ends the dish before it begins.
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VI
What to Pour
The pairing
Sparkling wine
From British Columbia
Wine
Without alcohol
GT's Synergy Organic Kombucha — Gingerade
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
Non-alcoholic
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The whole pairingPillar VII
Origin and lineage are part of membership.
Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.
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