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Blanquette de veau (French veal stew in white sauce)

54

The Sunday white stew of French home cooking: veal shoulder simmered gently with carrots and a clove-studded onion, then folded with pearl onions and mushrooms into a silky sauce made from its own broth, enriched with egg yolks, crème fraîche and a squeeze of lemon.

Time
130 min (25 prep + 105 cook)
Servings
4
Per serving
566 kcal
Protein
43 g

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 lb veal, boneless veal shoulder, in 4 cm (1 1/2-inch) pieces; weighed raw (about 580 g once simmered)
  • 4 1/4 cups water, 500 ml ends up in the sauce; keep the rest as stock
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 small onion, peeled and left whole
  • 2 whole cloves, pushed into the onion
  • 3 medium carrots, in thick slices
  • 1 stalk celery

Bouquet garni

White sauce

Steps

  1. Put the veal in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, boil for 2 minutes, then drain and rinse the meat so the broth stays pale. Wash the pot. Return the veal with the litre of fresh water, the salt, the onion studded with the cloves, the carrots, celery, bay and thyme. Bring to a bare simmer, partly cover and cook for 1 hour 15 minutes, skimming now and then, until the veal is very tender.
  2. With 15 minutes to go, put the pearl onions and mushrooms in a saucepan with 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and a ladle of the broth. Cover and simmer for 10–12 minutes until tender.
  3. Lift the veal and carrots into a warm dish with a slotted spoon and add the pearl onions and mushrooms. Discard the onion, celery and herbs. Strain the broth and measure out 500 ml, using the mushroom liquid as part of it. Keep the rest as stock.
  4. Melt the butter in the pot over medium heat, stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute without colouring. Whisk in the 500 ml of broth a little at a time and simmer for 5 minutes. Whisk the crème fraîche, egg yolks, white pepper and the remaining lemon juice in a bowl, then whisk in a ladle of the hot sauce. Take the pot off the heat and whisk the mixture in. Return to low heat and stir for about 2 minutes, until it coats a spoon and reaches 160°F. Do not let it boil, or the yolks will curdle.
  5. Fold the veal and vegetables into the sauce, warm through gently without boiling. Taste and add salt and a little more lemon, then scatter with the parsley. Serve with rice. It keeps 4 days in the fridge; reheat over low heat and stop before it bubbles. The egg sauce does not freeze well, so freeze only the veal in its strained broth (3 months) and make the sauce on the day.

Good to know

Why blanch the veal first?

Boiling it for 2 minutes and rinsing it removes the grey foam, and that is what keeps the sauce white and clean-tasting.

Can I use a little less cream?

Yes. The yolks and the roux keep it silky, so 30 g of crème fraîche is enough, at about the same score.

Per

Calories
118
Protein
(31%)
9 g
Fat
(52%)
7 g
Carbohydrates
(17%)
5 g
of which sugar
2 g
Fiber
1 g
Sodium
219 mg

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Computed from the ingredients with our published formula, not yet kitchen-tested. How

As written, 2263 kcal goes into the pot and 2247 g of ingredients comes out as about 1918 g of food: 118 kcal per 100 g. Cooking moves water and energy density is the score's biggest lever, so the dish is scored as cooked, not as an average of its parts. Every ingredient links to its food page, with the same data and score. The label's percentages are each macronutrient's share of the calories. The full formula.