P
Italian · Piedmont
Fesa di Vitello Tonnata con Salsa Tonnata Piemontese
Cold sliced veal covered in a creamy tuna-anchovy-caper mayonnaise — one of the great Piedmontese antipasti. The veal (fesa, from the rump) is poached very gently in aromatic court-bouillon until just cooked through, then sliced thin and covered in a sauce of tuna, anchovy, capers and mayonnaise. The combination of cold, delicate veal and rich, umami-laden tuna sauce is the defining flavour of the Piedmontese summer table.
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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.
For the veal
1.2 kg
veal fesa (rump)
tied into a neat cylinder if necessary
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the court-bouillon
2 litres
cold water
Your own market
200 ml
dry white wine
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
carrot
roughly chopped
Your own market
1
celery stalk
roughly chopped
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
white onion
halved
Your own market
1
bay leaf
Your own market
1 tsp
black peppercorns
whole
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
10 g
fine sea salt
Your own market
For the tonnata sauce
200 g
Italian tuna in olive oil
drained; oil-packed, not brine-packed
Your own market
6
anchovy fillets in oil
drained
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
30 g
capers in brine
rinsed and drained
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
250 g
good-quality mayonnaise
adjust quantity to achieve a coating consistency
Your own market
To finish
15 g
small capers in brine
rinsed, whole, for scattering
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
30 ml
extra-virgin olive oil
for drizzling over the plated dish
Your own market
II
The Method
1
Combine the water, white wine, carrot, celery, onion, bay leaf, peppercorns and salt in a pot large enough to hold the veal. Bring to a simmer, then lower the veal into the liquid. Regulate the heat so the liquid holds at 70–75 °C throughout — it must never boil. Poach until a probe thermometer inserted at the centre reads 65 °C. The meat is done when it offers no resistance to the probe and remains pale throughout; any greyness indicates overcooking.
2
Remove the pot from the heat. Leave the veal to cool completely in its poaching liquid — this is where the dish lives or dies: meat lifted from the liquid too soon will dry out and lose the aromatic depth that only a full cooling in the bouillon can give. Once at room temperature, refrigerate the veal in its liquid until thoroughly cold, at least four hours.
3
Lift the cold veal from the liquid. Pat dry. Using a sharp slicing knife, cut across the grain into slices 2–3 mm thick. The slices should be translucent at their edges and hold together without tearing.
4
Place the drained tuna, anchovy fillets and rinsed capers in the bowl of a food processor. Process until completely smooth. Add the mayonnaise and pulse to combine. The sauce must coat a spoon thickly and hold its shape on the veal without running; if it is too loose, incorporate additional mayonnaise a tablespoon at a time until the correct consistency is reached.
5
Arrange the veal slices in overlapping layers on a large flat serving dish or airtight container. Spread the tonnata sauce generously over every layer and over the surface, ensuring no veal is left exposed. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight. The sauce must have time to penetrate the veal; the flavours are not fully integrated until the following day.
6
To serve, transfer to a clean platter if necessary. Scatter the whole small capers over the surface and finish with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil. The dish is ready when the sauce has taken on the faintest blush of the veal beneath it and the two elements smell as one.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Milk-fed Piedmontese veal (vitello di latte), oil-packed Sicilian or Sardinian ventresca tuna, salt-packed capers from Pantelleria rinsed and dried, hand-filleted anchovies from the Cantabrian coast, house-made mayonnaise from free-range egg yolks.
02
Estate — Good rose-veal fesa from a known butcher, quality Italian oil-packed tuna, brined capers from a reliable Italian producer, good anchovy fillets in oil, a dependable commercial mayonnaise of clean flavour.
03
Market — Any pale, fine-grained veal fesa or topside, standard Italian oil-packed tuna, rinsed supermarket capers, decent tinned anchovies, standard commercial mayonnaise.
04
House — The dish is not serviceable with brine-packed tuna, overcooked or grey veal, or a thin sauce; these failures cannot be corrected at table.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. A probe inserted at the centre of the veal reads 65 °C and meets no resistance — the meat is yielding but not slack.
◇Sight. Veal slices are pale, almost translucent at the edges, with no grey interior — the colour of faintly pink ivory throughout.
◇Sight. The tonnata sauce holds a thick ribbon on a lifted spoon and does not spread or run when applied to the veal.
◇Smell. After overnight refrigeration, the dish smells of a single harmonious thing — neither veal nor tuna separately, but both merged.
◇Where it lives or dies. The veal must cool entirely in its poaching liquid — meat removed too soon will dry out and forfeit the aromatic depth that defines the dish.
Pillar V
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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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