Piedmont
Piedmont's most celebrated cold dish: veal (noce or scamone cut) cooked gently then sliced paper-thin and napped with a sauce of pureed tinned tuna, capers, anchovies, egg yolks, and lemon juice. The combination of land and sea — veal and tuna — is quintessentially Piedmontese and dates to the 18th century when the dish used tuna salt-packed in brine rather than oil. Served cold as an antipasto or secondo for summer. The sauce must be silky, pale-ivory, and coat the veal without completely obscuring it.
Delicate veal, silky umami-rich tuna sauce, with bright acid from capers and lemon — a uniquely refined surf-and-turf that is cooler and more cerebral than it sounds
The veal must be cooked gently (either braised in white wine and vegetables, or sous-vide at 65°C) to remain rosy-pink — overcooked grey veal makes a visually and texturally inferior dish. The tuna sauce is an emulsion: the egg yolks and oil emulsify the tuna into a silky, mayonnaise-like consistency. The anchovy and caper quantities must be balanced — present but not dominating. Resting the assembled dish for 4-6 hours in the refrigerator allows the sauce to penetrate the veal slices.
For the best tuna sauce: use oil-packed tuna (not brine) and the finest capers possible. The classic garnish is additional whole capers and thin lemon slices. Modern refinements include adding a small amount of mascarpone to the sauce for extra creaminess. The veal can be cooked sous-vide at 62°C for 2 hours for perfect, consistently rosy results every time.
Over-cooking the veal to grey — rosy pink is mandatory for textural tenderness and visual appeal. Making the sauce too chunky by under-processing — it must be completely smooth. Serving immediately without resting — the sauce must soak into the veal. Forgetting to season the sauce before assembly.
La Cucina Piemontese — Giovanni Goria