Blanquette de Veau à l’Ancienne

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •4-quart heavy saucepan
• •10-inch lidded sauté pan
• •Medium heavy-bottomed saucepan
• •Fine-mesh sieve
• •Balloon whisk
• •Kitchen twine

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the veal

   Prepare the veal according to Blanchings (No. 273), using the meat operation only to the slight stage required for this formula; cool it as directed and drain it thoroughly. Tie the leek, parsley stems, thyme, and bay leaf into a compact bouquet garni. Push the clove into the peeled yellow onion so it cannot disappear into the cooking liquor.

2. 2

   Simmer without browning

   Place the cooled veal in a heavy 4-quart saucepan and add enough cold stock to cover it, usually 4 1/2 to 5 cups (1.08 to 1.2 L / 1.08 to 1.2 kg). Add the salt and bring it slowly toward a boil, stirring the pieces once or twice so none clings to the bottom. Skim away the gray foam as it gathers. Add the carrot, clove-studded onion, and bouquet garni, then lower the heat and cook with the lid slightly ajar at the barest tremble for 1 1/2 hours. Add a little hot stock if the meat becomes exposed. The veal is ready when a knife enters easily but the pieces still hold their shape.

3. 3

   Cook the garniture

   While the veal cooks, put the pearl onions in a lidded sauté pan with 1 cup (240 ml / 240 g) of the remaining stock. Cover and simmer very gently for 15 to 20 minutes, until tender but intact, then lift them out. Poach the trimmed mushroom caps in the same liquor for 5 to 7 minutes, just until tender and still white, then lift them out beside the onions. This shared pale stock is the honest home equivalent of maintaining a separate pan of consommé for twelve onions.

4. 4

   Strain the liquor

   Transfer the cooked veal piece by piece to the sauté pan containing the onions and mushrooms. Keep it moistened with a spoonful of cooking liquor and cover loosely. Discard the carrot, onion, and bouquet garni. Strain the remaining veal liquor through a fine sieve, skim away any visible surface fat, and measure exactly 2 3/8 cups (570 ml / 570 g) for the sauce. Keep any extra liquor nearby for loosening it later.

5. 5

   Build the roux blanc

   Melt the butter in a clean medium saucepan over low heat without letting it color. Add the flour and whisk for 2 to 3 minutes, until the roux blanc looks smooth and foamy but remains pale. Gradually whisk in the measured hot cooking liquor, adding the first ladle slowly so the roux opens without lumps. Add the reserved mushroom stems and parings, bring the sauce to a gentle simmer, and cook for 15 minutes, skimming the surface as needed. If lumps appear, keep whisking; any stubborn ones will be caught by the final straining. Do not brown the roux. Color cannot be taken back.

6. 6

   Temper the liaison

   Whisk the egg yolks, 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 45 g) cream, and lemon juice together in a heatproof bowl. Remove the sauce from direct heat. Whisk one ladle of hot sauce into the liaison, then another, before slowly whisking the warmed liaison back into the saucepan. The sauce should coat the back of a spoon in an even ivory layer. If the first tiny grains appear, stop heating immediately, pass the sauce through the fine sieve into a cool bowl, and whisk in the optional cold cream. Ça se rattrape. Heat is the danger now, not lack of it.

7. 7

   Finish without boiling

   Strain the finished sauce over the veal, pearl onions, and mushrooms without pressing hard on the mushroom parings. Set the sauté pan over the lowest heat and warm everything for 3 to 5 minutes, shaking the pan gently rather than stirring and breaking the veal. Never let the sauce boil after the liaison. If it tightens too far, loosen it with reserved cooking liquor one tablespoon at a time. Taste for salt, transfer the blanquette to a deep porcelain serving dish, sprinkle with the chopped parsley, and serve at once. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Tendron is the cartilage-rich rib end or breast of veal, and its gelatin gives this sauce its body. Veal breast is the closest butcher-counter equivalent. Shoulder will make a good blanquette, but the sauce will be a little less silken.
• •Use pale, unsalted veal stock if you can find it. A good low-sodium chicken stock is the honest home substitute, though the finished sauce will have less veal depth. Dark roasted stock defeats the governing idea before the pot reaches the stove.
• •This specific à l’ancienne formula retains a slight preliminary blanch before the stock simmer. Keep it brief. Prolonged boiling strips the veal of the very flavor the sauce needs.
• •The source permits noodles or cèpes (porcini mushrooms) in place of ordinary mushrooms. For noodles, fold in 4 oz (115 g) dry egg noodles cooked separately until just tender. Fresh cèpes can replace the button mushrooms by weight, though their deeper color will turn the ivory sauce beige.
• •A dry white with enough body for the cream is right here: Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, or a restrained white Burgundy. Serve the blanquette with plain rice or buttered noodles if you want something to catch every spoonful of sauce.

Advance Preparation

• •The veal and garniture can be prepared through the straining step one day ahead. Cool the veal in enough strained cooking liquor to keep it moist, refrigerate the onions and mushrooms separately, and make the roux and liaison shortly before serving.
• •A finished blanquette can be refrigerated for up to two days, but reheat it over very low heat while stirring gently. Do not let it bubble. If the cold sauce has set too firmly, loosen it with a spoonful of stock before reheating.
• •Do not freeze the finished sauce. The liaison may separate on thawing, and although ça se rattrape at the stove, make-ahead cooking should make supper calmer, not invent another task.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 510g)