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    Meat · Recipe · France · Reference page

    Blanquette de veau

    blanquette de veau

    Veal poached gently with carrots, an onion stuck with a clove and a bouquet garni, then served in a white sauce of its own broth bound with butter and flour and finished with cream, egg yolk and lemon. The meat is never browned. The quantities are from Candice Kother's recipe for RTBF; the classical method is Escoffier's.

    Pale veal pieces, orange carrots and cut button mushrooms in ivory blanquette sauce with parsley, in a white bowl.
    Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.
    Servings
    4
    Preparation
    25 min
    Cooking
    2 h
    Total
    2 h 25
    Difficulty
    Moderate

    Equipment

    • Large casserole or stew pot with a lid
    • Skimmer or ladle
    • Two small bowls for the beurre manié and the liaison; whisk
    Servings4

    Ingredients

    • The veal

    • The sauce

    Shopping list

    Method

    1. Melt 30 g butter in the casserole and turn the veal in it over a moderate heat without letting it brown. Season, then cover with hot water.

      Why A blanquette is white: the meat is stiffened, never coloured.

    2. Bring slowly to a simmer and skim carefully. Add the carrots, the clove-studded onion, the shallot and the bouquet garni, and cook at a gentle simmer for 1 hour.

      Why Escoffier insists on bringing the liquid up slowly and skimming with the greatest care, so the broth and sauce stay clear and pale.

      Timer · 1 h60:00

    3. Add the mushrooms and 2 tbsp of lemon juice and cook for another 30 minutes, until the veal is tender.

      Timer · 30 min30:00

    4. Meanwhile mash the softened butter with the flour into a paste (beurre manié). In another bowl mix the crème fraîche with the egg yolk.

    5. Lift the meat and vegetables out with a skimmer and keep them warm; discard the bouquet garni and onion. Whisk the beurre manié into the hot broth in small pieces until the sauce thickens.

      Timer · 5 min5:00

    6. Take the pan off the boil and stir in the cream and yolk mixture. Heat gently without letting it boil, taste for salt, pepper and lemon, and pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables. Scatter with parsley.

      Why The yolk thickens the sauce and makes it silky, but it curdles if the sauce boils.

    To drink & serve with

    • RTBF serves it with rice; boiled potatoes are the other usual partner.

    • Mâconnais

      Editorial suggestion: a round dry white such as a Mâcon.

    Substitutions

    • Beurre manié → A white roux cooked first and whisked into the broth to make a velouté, as in Escoffier's blanquette à l'ancienne.
    • Water → A light white veal or chicken stock, for a fuller sauce (Escoffier).
    • Button mushrooms → Escoffier adds 20 small onions cooked white and as many small mushrooms as the garnish.

    Common mistakes

    • Browning the veal: the sauce turns beige and loses its point.
    • Boiling the sauce after the yolk goes in: it scrambles.
    • Too much lemon at once: add it a little at a time and taste.

    Storage & reheating

    Refrigerate within 2 hours and eat within 2 days. Reheat gently and only once, until steaming hot; a sauce with egg yolk can split if it boils.

    Safety

    Contains gluten (flour), milk (butter, cream) and egg (yolk). Keep the finished sauce hot or cool it fast; dishes thickened with egg should not stand warm.

    Allergens

    Gluten · Milk · Egg

    Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

    The white stew of French home cooking

    Blanquette comes from blanc, white, and the whole method serves that colour. In Escoffier's Guide culinaire (1903) the blanquette de veau à l'ancienne uses breast, shoulder and neck-end ribs, covered with white stock, brought up slowly and skimmed "with the greatest care", flavoured with a small carrot, an onion stuck with a clove and a bouquet of leek, parsley, thyme and bay, and cooked gently for an hour and a half. The broth is then turned into a velouté with a white roux, and the sauce is finished with five egg yolks, lemon juice, nutmeg and cream, heated without boiling. Small white onions and mushrooms make the garnish.

    Candice Kother's family recipe for the RTBF radio station Vivacité is the same dish made simpler: water instead of stock, the mushrooms cooked in the broth with lemon juice, the sauce thickened with beurre manié and finished with crème fraîche and a single yolk. She serves it with rice.

    [1][2]

    How it connects

    Place

    • origin France In preparation

    Wine region

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