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Sautés de Veau Divers
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 1284, Sautés de Veau Divers, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Sautés de veau divers turns one sound method into five suppers: bronze the veal, preserve the fond, simmer gently, then choose mushrooms, fines herbes, aubergine, tomato, or curry.
Soups & Stews
French
Comfort Food
Make Ahead
30 min
Active Time
1 hr 20 min cook•1 hr 50 min total
Yield4 servings
Sautés de veau divers (varied veal sautés) teaches the family logic of the French canon. Here sauté doesn't mean a quick toss over fierce heat. It means the veal is browned in fat, moistened, and cooked gently until tender. Change the final garnish and the dish takes a new turn, but the grammar remains: colour, fond, bound sauce, quiet simmer.
The original entry assumed a saucier, stock never off the fire, brigade quantities, and several garnish pans moving at once. At home, you need one broad pan, good unsalted stock, and a small skillet used while the veal simmers. I've scaled the family to four servings and folded the parallel garnish work into the cooking time. That service choreography was scaffolding. The browning, deglazing, and gentle moist cooking are the dish, and they stay. One cook, one stove, one evening.
Choose one finish, not all five. Mushrooms bring woodland depth, fines herbes keep the sauce bright, aubergine makes it more substantial, tomato gives acidity, and Currie à l’Indienne warms the bound sauce with spice and cream. Before you touch the pan, dry every cube of veal and leave room around it. Crowding is the one error that steals the fond before the dish has begun.
Sautés de veau divers belongs to France’s cuisine bourgeoise and classical professional repertoire rather than to one province. In this vocabulary, sauté names meat browned in fat and then moistened for gentle cooking, not a quick tossing over high heat, which is why mushrooms, fines herbes, aubergine, and tomato can change without disturbing the method. Currie à l’Indienne is the canon’s French treatment of curry powder in a bound sauce, a record of imported spice passing through Parisian and grand-kitchen practice, not an Indian regional dish.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
boneless veal shoulder
Quantity
1½ pounds, about 4 cups (950 ml / 680 g)
cut into 1½-inch (4 cm) cubes
unsalted butter
Quantity
¼ cup (60 ml / 56 g)
divided
yellow onion
Quantity
1 small, about ¾ cup (180 ml / 120 g)
finely chopped
all-purpose flour
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 16 g)
unsalted chicken or veal stock
Quantity
2 cups (475 ml / 475 g), or 1 cup (240 ml / 240 g) for the tomato variation
fine salt
Quantity
1¼ teaspoons (6 ml / 7 g), plus more to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g)
bouquet garni of parsley stems, thyme, and bay leaf
Quantity
1
mushrooms (optional)
Quantity
8 ounces, about 3 cups (710 ml / 225 g)
quartered, for the mushroom variation
unsalted butter (optional)
Quantity
2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g)
for the mushroom variation
mixed parsley, chervil, chives, and tarragon (optional)
Quantity
¼ cup (60 ml / 15 g)
finely chopped for the fines herbes variation
aubergine (optional)
Quantity
1 small, about 3 cups (710 ml / 340 g)
cut into ¾-inch (2 cm) cubes for the aubergine variation
unsalted butter (optional)
Quantity
3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g)
for the aubergine variation
canned whole peeled tomatoes with their juices (optional)
Quantity
1¾ cups (415 ml / 400 g)
crushed for the tomato variation
mild curry powder (optional)
Quantity
2 teaspoons (10 ml / 5 g)
for the Currie à l’Indienne variation
heavy cream (optional)
Quantity
½ cup (120 ml / 120 g)
for the Currie à l’Indienne variation
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| boneless veal shouldercut into 1½-inch (4 cm) cubes | 1½ pounds, about 4 cups (950 ml / 680 g) |
| unsalted butterdivided | ¼ cup (60 ml / 56 g) |
| yellow onionfinely chopped | 1 small, about ¾ cup (180 ml / 120 g) |
| all-purpose flour | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 16 g) |
| unsalted chicken or veal stock | 2 cups (475 ml / 475 g), or 1 cup (240 ml / 240 g) for the tomato variation |
| fine salt | 1¼ teaspoons (6 ml / 7 g), plus more to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml / 1 g) |
| bouquet garni of parsley stems, thyme, and bay leaf | 1 |
| mushrooms (optional)quartered, for the mushroom variation | 8 ounces, about 3 cups (710 ml / 225 g) |
| unsalted butter (optional)for the mushroom variation | 2 tablespoons (30 ml / 28 g) |
| mixed parsley, chervil, chives, and tarragon (optional)finely chopped for the fines herbes variation | ¼ cup (60 ml / 15 g) |
| aubergine (optional)cut into ¾-inch (2 cm) cubes for the aubergine variation | 1 small, about 3 cups (710 ml / 340 g) |
| unsalted butter (optional)for the aubergine variation | 3 tablespoons (45 ml / 42 g) |
| canned whole peeled tomatoes with their juices (optional)crushed for the tomato variation | 1¾ cups (415 ml / 400 g) |
| mild curry powder (optional)for the Currie à l’Indienne variation | 2 teaspoons (10 ml / 5 g) |
| heavy cream (optional)for the Currie à l’Indienne variation | ½ cup (120 ml / 120 g) |
Equipment Needed
- •12-inch (30 cm) heavy sauté pan or shallow casserole with a lid
- •10-inch (25 cm) skillet for mushroom or aubergine garnish
- •Tongs or slotted spoon
- •Small whisk
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the veal
Trim away thick surface sinew, leaving the fine seams of fat that will soften during cooking. Pat the cubes thoroughly dry, then season them with the salt and pepper. Choose one variation and prepare its ingredients before heating the pan. The five finishes are separate branches of the same sauté, not invitations to empty the whole market into one pot.
Cut the veal into even cubes. Small scraps dry before the shoulder becomes tender, while oversized pieces leave the sauce waiting on the meat. - 2
Brown in batches
Heat 2 tablespoons of the base butter in a broad heavy pan over medium-high heat until it foams and smells nutty. Add the veal in a single uncrowded layer, working in two or three batches, and brown every broad face before lifting the meat to a plate. This initial browning is the sauté named by the glossary, and the bronze film left on the pan is the fond that will carry the sauce. If the butter or fond turns black and smells bitter, remove the meat, wipe out only the burnt fat, and continue with fresh butter. Ça se rattrape. Deep brown stays; black goes.
- 3
Build the sauce
Lower the heat to medium and add 1 tablespoon of the base butter. Cook the onion for 5 minutes, stirring, until soft and pale gold. Singer, dust the contents with flour, and stir for 2 minutes so the flour cooks in the butter. For Currie à l’Indienne, add the curry powder with the flour and stir until fragrant. Gradually pour in 1¾ cups (415 ml) of stock, reserving the rest, while scraping every brown deposit from the pan. For the tomato variation, use ¾ cup (180 ml) stock here, reserve the remaining ¼ cup (60 ml), and stir in the crushed tomatoes. If the sauce forms lumps, take the pan off the heat and whisk firmly before continuing. It will smooth.
- 4
Simmer very gently
Return the veal and its collected juices to the pan and add the bouquet garni. The liquid should reach roughly two-thirds of the way up the meat. Bring it just to a simmer, partly cover, and cook over low heat for 55 to 75 minutes, turning the pieces occasionally, until a fork enters without resistance. The surface should barely tremble. A rolling boil tightens the meat and drives fat from the sauce, so lower the heat if the pan becomes lively.
- 5
Cook the chosen garnish
For mushrooms, heat their 2 tablespoons of butter in a separate skillet and sauté them in batches until deeply browned; fold them into the veal for its final 10 minutes. For aubergine, brown the cubes in their 3 tablespoons of butter, working in batches until the centres are tender, then fold them into the veal for the final 10 minutes. For fines herbes, chop the herbs just before finishing and keep them uncooked. The tomato is already in its sauce, and the curry variation receives its cream in the next step.
- 6
Reduce to nappage
When the veal is tender, lift it and any solid garnish into a warm bowl and discard the bouquet garni. Boil the sauce uncovered until it reaches nappage, a coating consistency that leaves a clear trail when you draw a finger across the back of a spoon. For Currie à l’Indienne, add the cream and simmer gently for 3 to 5 minutes before judging the consistency. If the sauce is too thick, loosen it with reserved stock; if it is thin, keep reducing. Remove the pan from the heat and swirl in the final tablespoon of base butter. If the sauce looks oily after the butter goes in, whisk in a teaspoon of cold stock off the heat. Ça se rattrape.
- 7
Finish and serve
Return the veal and any mushroom or aubergine garnish to the finished sauce and turn the pieces gently until glazed. For fines herbes, fold in the chopped herbs only after the pan leaves the heat so their flavour remains fresh. Taste for salt and pepper, then let the sauté stand for 5 minutes before serving. Bring it to the table with potatoes, buttered noodles, or plain rice for Currie à l’Indienne. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Ask for veal shoulder rather than lean leg. Shoulder has enough connective tissue to become succulent during the gentle simmer, while very lean cubes can tighten before the sauce is ready.
- •Choose one variation. Mushrooms want firm heat and real browning, fines herbes go in off the heat, and aubergine must be cooked separately before meeting the sauce. Those distinctions are the character of each version.
- •Good canned tomatoes are the honest choice when ripe fresh tomatoes aren't in season. Crush them by hand and use their juices; tired fresh tomatoes bring water without flavour.
- •Pour a restrained white Burgundy with the mushroom or fines herbes versions, a light red with tomato or aubergine, and an aromatic dry white with Currie à l’Indienne.
Advance Preparation
- •The veal can be cooked through the gentle simmer up to two days ahead. Cool it promptly in its sauce, refrigerate, and reheat over low heat before reducing and mounting the sauce with butter.
- •Mushrooms and aubergine may be browned earlier the same day, but keep them separate until reheating. Chop fines herbes only at the finish, and add the cream to Currie à l’Indienne during its final reduction.
- •Leftovers keep for three days in the refrigerator. Reheat at a bare simmer and loosen the sauce with a spoonful of stock if it has tightened.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 395g)
Calories
680 calories
Total Fat
50 g
Saturated Fat
28 g
Trans Fat
2 g
Unsaturated Fat
19 g
Cholesterol
230 mg
Sodium
1000 mg
Total Carbohydrates
19 g
Dietary Fiber
5 g
Sugars
9 g
Protein
39 g
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