Chef Juliette
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Sauté de Veau à la Catalane
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1283, Sauté de Veau à la Catalane, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
A southern classical sauté where tender veal meets tomato, butter-glazed onions, mushrooms, chestnuts, and chipolata, all bound by a Marengo sauce reduced until it gleams.
Soups & Stews
French
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
30 min
Active Time
2 hr cook•2 hr 30 min total
Yield4 servings
Sauté de Veau à la Catalane (veal gently braised with tomato, glazed onions, mushrooms, chestnuts, and chipolata) teaches the classical meaning of sauté: brown first, then cook gently in a built sauce. The one true thing to know before touching the pan is this: reduce the sauce away from the veal. Boiling the meat while chasing thickness only trades tenderness for impatience.
The original formula assumed Sauté de Veau à la Marengo (No. 1280) already moving through the brigade, a saucier to manage the reduction, consommé never off the fire, and a timbale waiting for service. At home, half of that referenced preparation feeds four, good low-sodium consommé serves the chestnuts, and a warm deep bowl replaces the formal timbale. The brigade quantity and ceremonial dish are scaffolding; the separate reduction and final fifteen-minute simmer are the dish. One cook, one stove, one evening.
The finished pot is generous and composed rather than heavy: tender veal under a glossy tomato-brown sauce, with sweet onions, earthy chestnuts, mushrooms, and small sausages sharing every spoonful. Lift the veal before reducing its sauce, and the difficult part is already behind you.
Sauté de Veau à la Catalane belongs to the codified French classical table, where à la Catalane names a particular garnish more readily than a Catalan household stew. Its structure comes through Sauté de Veau à la Marengo (No. 1280): browned veal in a tomato-based sauce, recast with buttered tomatoes, small onions, raw quartered mushrooms, chestnuts cooked in consommé, and chipolata. The name’s surprise is its address, a French grand-kitchen and bourgeois-table formula whose southern character is carried by the garnish, not a claim that every Catalan kitchen cooked this exact pot.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
prepared Sauté de Veau à la Marengo base
Quantity
½ batch Sauté de Veau à la Marengo (No. 1280), made with 1 lb / 455 g veal
veal cut into eight 2 oz / 55 g pieces and cooked through the initial gentle braise
low-sodium beef or veal consommé
Quantity
¾ cup (180 ml / 180 g)
peeled raw chestnuts
Quantity
5 chestnuts (about 2 oz / 55 g)
fresh or frozen
unsalted butter
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g)
divided
small pearl onions
Quantity
5 onions (about 2½ oz / 70 g)
peeled
plum tomatoes
Quantity
½ cup (120 ml / 120 g)
peeled, seeded, and quartered
small chipolata sausages
Quantity
4 sausages (about 5 oz / 140 g)
small button mushrooms
Quantity
1¼ cups (300 ml / 85 g)
quartered
fine sea salt
Quantity
as needed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| prepared Sauté de Veau à la Marengo baseveal cut into eight 2 oz / 55 g pieces and cooked through the initial gentle braise | ½ batch Sauté de Veau à la Marengo (No. 1280), made with 1 lb / 455 g veal |
| low-sodium beef or veal consommé | ¾ cup (180 ml / 180 g) |
| peeled raw chestnutsfresh or frozen | 5 chestnuts (about 2 oz / 55 g) |
| unsalted butterdivided | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) |
| small pearl onionspeeled | 5 onions (about 2½ oz / 70 g) |
| plum tomatoespeeled, seeded, and quartered | ½ cup (120 ml / 120 g) |
| small chipolata sausages | 4 sausages (about 5 oz / 140 g) |
| small button mushroomsquartered | 1¼ cups (300 ml / 85 g) |
| fine sea salt | as needed |
Equipment Needed
- •3-quart (2.8-liter) heavy saucepan with lid
- •8-inch (20-centimeter) skillet
- •Small saucepan for the chestnuts
- •Fine-mesh sieve
- •Slotted spoon
Instructions
- 1
Ready the Marengo base
Prepare the half batch of Sauté de Veau à la Marengo (No. 1280) according to its own entry, using 1 lb (455 g) veal. Follow it through the initial one-and-one-half-hour gentle cook, then stop before its final transfer and Marengo garnish; the Catalane garnish below replaces that finish. Keep the veal in its sauce over the lowest heat while you prepare the remaining elements, and never let it boil.
- 2
Par-cook the chestnuts
Put the chestnuts in the smallest saucepan that holds them snugly and add the consommé. Bring it to a bare tremble and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until a skewer enters the outer flesh easily but meets a little resistance at the centre. They should be three-quarters cooked, since the final simmer completes them. Lift them out carefully and reserve the consommé. If one chestnut splits, lower the heat and keep the pieces; they taste exactly as they should.
- 3
Butter the small garnish
Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a small skillet. Add the pearl onions with 2 tablespoons of reserved consommé, cover, and cook gently for 10 to 12 minutes, rolling them occasionally, until tender and glossy without deep browning. If the butter colors before the onions soften, add another spoonful of consommé. Lift out the onions. Add the remaining butter, toss the tomato quarters for 1 to 2 minutes until they gleam and their edges relax, then remove them before they collapse. Brown the chipolatas lightly in the same skillet for 3 to 4 minutes; they will finish cooking in the sauce. Leave the quartered mushrooms raw, exactly as the formula intends.
- 4
Transfer veal and garnish
Lift the veal pieces one by one from their Marengo sauce into a clean 3-quart (2.8-liter) heavy saucepan. Arrange the buttered tomatoes, glazed onions, raw mushrooms, chestnuts, and browned chipolatas among the meat without crushing the chestnuts. Leave the sauce behind in its original pan.
- 5
Reduce and strain sauce
Bring the sauce to a lively simmer and reduce it to about ⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon (95 ml / about 95 g), half the source formula’s finished quantity. It should napper, coating the back of a spoon in a thin glossy veil. Strain it through a fine-mesh sieve over the veal and garnish, pressing lightly on the solids. If it has tightened too far, whisk in reserved consommé a tablespoon at a time; if a slick of fat gathers, skim it rather than stirring it back. Ça se rattrape.
- 6
Finish at a tremble
Bring everything to the barest simmer, cover slightly ajar, and cook for 15 minutes. Turn the veal and sausages once with a spoon, disturbing the chestnuts as little as possible. The mushrooms should be tender, the veal yielding, and the chipolatas cooked through to 160°F (71°C). If the mushrooms loosen the sauce too much, lift out the solids and reduce the sauce alone for 2 or 3 minutes; never boil the veal to repair a thin sauce. Taste before adding salt, then transfer everything to a warm deep serving bowl and spoon the gleaming sauce over the garnish. À table!
Chef Tips
- •When preparing Sauté de Veau à la Marengo (No. 1280), ask for veal shoulder cut into eight pieces of about 2 oz (55 g) each. Shoulder has enough connective tissue for the long gentle cook; lean leg can dry before the sauce is ready.
- •Chipolata means a slim, lightly seasoned fresh pork sausage. If it is unavailable, use the same weight of mild, narrow pork sausages without smoke, fennel, or hot spice. The substitution is not invisible, but it preserves the garnish’s scale and gentle seasoning.
- •Fresh tomatoes matter less than sound tomatoes. When the market fruit is pale and woolly, use ½ cup (120 ml / 120 g) of well-drained canned whole plum tomatoes, cut into quarters. The classical pantry solved the season long ago.
- •Fully cooked vacuum-packed chestnuts need no preliminary simmer. Add them only for the last 5 minutes, or they may crumble into the sauce. Fresh or frozen raw chestnuts should receive the full consommé cooking described above.
- •Pour a supple red from Roussillon, bright enough for the tomato and gentle enough for the veal. Heavy oak and heavy tannin bully this pot; generosity does not require noise.
Advance Preparation
- •The Sauté de Veau à la Marengo (No. 1280) base can be prepared through its initial gentle cook one day ahead. Cool it promptly, refrigerate the veal in its sauce, and return it to a bare simmer before beginning the Catalane finish.
- •The chestnuts and glazed onions can be prepared earlier the same day and refrigerated separately. Bring them toward room temperature while the Marengo base reheats.
- •The completed dish keeps for up to two days in the refrigerator. Reheat it covered over very gentle heat until piping hot, loosening the sauce with a spoonful of consommé if it has set too firmly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 260g)
Calories
415 calories
Total Fat
25 g
Saturated Fat
10 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
14 g
Cholesterol
140 mg
Sodium
750 mg
Total Carbohydrates
16 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
31 g
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