Blanquette de veau

Name: Blanquette de veau
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 120 min
Total time: 150 min
Yield: 6 people
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 1.2 kg Veal, shoulder and breast, in 5 cm pieces; 2 medium Carrot, in thick chunks; 1 medium Onion, peeled, stuck with the cloves; 2 piece Cloves; 1 piece Leek, green part, washed; 1 piece Bouquet garni; 0.5 tsp Peppercorns, white if you have them; 2 tsp Salt; 2 l Water, cold; 200 g Pearl onions, peeled; 250 g Mushrooms, small button, quartered if large; 20 g Butter; 50 g Butter; 50 g Wheat flour; 200 ml Cream, crème fraîche or double cream; 2 piece Egg yolks; 1 piece Lemon, juiced; a squeeze for the mushrooms, the rest for the sauce; 1 pinch White pepper; 300 g Rice, long-grain, boiled or cooked as a pilaf

Veal simmered white with aromatics, finished in a sauce of its own stock thickened with roux, cream and egg yolk, with mushrooms and small onions.

Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen.

Start cooking

Prep: 30 min
Cook: 2 hr
Rest: None
Total: 2 hr 30 min
Difficulty: Medium
Spice: No chilli
Cost: Treat yourself$28+ USD · indicative, not a store price

Know it before you cook it

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About

Blanquette de veau is a white stew. The veal is never browned: it is blanched, rinsed, then simmered gently in water with carrot, an onion stuck with cloves and a bouquet garni until soft. The stock becomes the sauce, thickened with a pale roux, enriched at the end with cream and egg yolk and sharpened with lemon. Button mushrooms and small onions are cooked separately and folded in. The sauce should be ivory, glossy and just thick enough to coat a spoon. Use a mix of cuts if you can, shoulder for meat and breast for gelatine. Serve it with plain rice.

What you'll need

19 ingredients. Tap each one once it's out on the bench.

0 of 19 ready

6 servings

Stew
Garnish
Sauce
To serve

Ingredients

Servings

Stew

Veal, shoulder and breast, in 5 cm pieces1.2 kg
Carrot, in thick chunks2 medium
Onion, peeled, stuck with the cloves1 medium
Cloves2
Leek, green part, washed1
Bouquet garni1
Peppercorns, white if you have them2½ ml
Salt9.9 ml
Water, cold2 l

Garnish

Pearl onions, peeled200 g
Mushrooms, small button, quartered if large250 g
Butter20 g

Sauce

Butter50 g
Wheat flour50 g
Cream, crème fraîche or double cream200 ml
Egg yolks2
Lemon, juiced; a squeeze for the mushrooms, the rest for the sauce1
White pepper1 pinch

To serve

Rice, long-grain, boiled or cooked as a pilaf300 g

Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.

Steps

Step 1
Put the veal in a large pot, cover with cold water and bring to the boil. Boil 2 minutes, then drain and rinse the meat and the pot under cold water to wash away the grey scum.
15 min
Tip: This blanching is what keeps the sauce white. Do not skip it.
Step 2
Return the veal to the pot with the 2 litres of fresh cold water, the carrot, the clove-studded onion, the leek, bouquet garni, peppercorns and salt. Bring slowly to a bare simmer, skim, and cook partly covered for about 1½ hours until the veal is tender.
90 min
Step 3
Meanwhile put the pearl onions in a small pan with half the garnish butter, a pinch of salt and water to half cover. Cook covered until tender, then uncover and boil off the water without letting them colour. In another pan cook the mushrooms with the rest of that butter, a squeeze of lemon and a splash of water for 5 minutes until white and tender. Keep their juices.
20 min
Step 4
Lift the veal and carrots into a dish. Strain the stock and measure 1 litre; boil it down if you have much more.
10 min
Step 5
In the cleaned pot, melt the 50 g of butter, stir in the flour and cook for 2 minutes without letting it colour. Whisk in the hot stock a ladle at a time, add the mushroom juices, and simmer for 10 minutes, skimming, until it coats a spoon.
15 min
Step 6
Return the veal, carrots, mushrooms and onions to the sauce and simmer gently for 5 minutes until hot through. Beat the cream, yolks and most of the remaining lemon juice in a bowl. Take the pot off the heat, whisk a ladle of the hot sauce into the cream mixture, then stir it all back into the pot. Warm over low heat, stirring, for a minute or two until the sauce thickens slightly and steams. Season with white pepper, salt and lemon, and serve with rice.
10 min
Watch: Once the yolks are in, do not let the sauce boil or it will split.

Nutrition

Per serving · estimate

Calories: 612 kcal
Protein: 48.1 g
Carbs: 36.2 g
Fat: 29.6 g
Saturated fat: 16.1 g
Fibre: 3 g
Sugar: 7.3 g
Sodium: 1506 mg

Calculated from canonical ingredient data (USDA FoodData Central averages and equivalent published tables). Estimates only.

Allergens

Informational only. Not a medical guarantee. Cross-contamination happens in real kitchens.

Milk
Eggs
Wheat

Nut-free

Adapt this recipe

The original recipe stays as it is. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are simple maths.

Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 12 November.

Substitutions

Veal → Chicken thighs on the bone, or pork shoulder
Blanquette de volaille is a recognised dish; simmer chicken 40 minutes. Pork needs the full time and makes a richer sauce.
Pearl onions → Small shallots, peeled and left whole
Slightly sharper. Cook them the same way.

Tips

Make it a day ahead up to step 5, then add the cream and yolk liaison when you reheat. It tastes better and you avoid splitting it twice.
Taste for lemon at the end. The sauce should be rich but not flat; a few drops can make the difference.

History & culture

It is a family Sunday dish and a school-canteen dish, and polls of French favourite dishes regularly put it near the top. Bistros serve it as a winter plat du jour. It reheats well, as long as the yolk goes in only when you reheat the portion you are about to eat.

The name comes from blanc, white. Eighteenth-century versions were a way to use up roast veal, reheated in a white sauce. The form with raw veal simmered from the start and finished with cream and yolk settled into the bourgeois repertoire during the 19th century and is the one French cookbooks have printed ever since.

Traditional — Some cooks finish with cream alone and skip the yolk; older recipes use yolk alone. Both are done in France. Veal breast is hard to buy outside France; shoulder alone works, the sauce is just a little less silky.

Provenance: Editorial adaptation.

Questions about this recipe

Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips.

How long does Blanquette de veau take?

2 hr 30 min all in — 30 min prep, 2 hr cook. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.

How many does it serve?

The recipe is written for 6 people. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.

How hard is it?

Medium.

How spicy is it?

No chilli.

What allergens should I watch?

This recipe is labelled for Milk, Eggs, Wheat. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.

Does it fit a diet?

The published recipe is labelled Nut-free.

8 more questions

What does it cost to cook?

Treat yourself — about $28+ USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.

What equipment do I need?

Dutch oven, Saucepan, Mixing bowl, Chef's knife.

How much salt do I put in?

The recipe lists Salt at 2 tsp.

What can I use instead?

Veal → Chicken thighs on the bone, or pork shoulder. Blanquette de volaille is a recognised dish; simmer chicken 40 minutes. Pork needs the full time and makes a richer sauce. Pearl onions → Small shallots, peeled and left whole. Slightly sharper. Cook them the same way.

What should I watch for?

Once the yolks are in, do not let the sauce boil or it will split.

Any tips from this recipe?

Make it a day ahead up to step 5, then add the cream and yolk liaison when you reheat. It tastes better and you avoid splitting it twice. Taste for lemon at the end. The sauce should be rich but not flat; a few drops can make the difference.

Can I prepare this ahead?

Make it a day ahead up to step 5, then add the cream and yolk liaison when you reheat. It tastes better and you avoid splitting it twice.

Can I use an air fryer?

This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.