Vitello Tonnato

Piedmontese, documented from the late 18th century — the earliest written recipe using a tuna sauce is in Angelo Dubini's 1862 cookbook 'La cucina degli stomachi deboli'; Artusi's 1891 cookbook popularized it but was not the first, but it appears in Piedmontese household cooking earlier. The original sauce was an emulsion of tuna, anchovy, capers, oil, and lemon — no mayonnaise. Mayonnaise crept in during the 20th century as a shortcut and is now standard outside Piedmont, contested inside it.

Piedmontese summer dish from the 18th century — slow-poached veal, sliced cold, blanketed in tuna-anchovy-caper-mayo. The two proteins meeting at room temperature is the whole point.

Cold sliced veal — poached, fanned in single layer on a flat plate — covered edge to edge in a pale beige sauce of canned tuna, anchovy, capers, lemon, olive oil. Capers scattered on top. Eaten chilled in summer; the sauce should taste of tuna first, mayo last (or no mayo at all, in the older Piedmontese version).

The veal must be poached, never roasted. A whole eye-of-round goes into aromatic broth at 80°C and stays there until the core hits 60°C — about 90 minutes for 1.5 kg. Above that, the meat fibers tighten and slicing wet-thin becomes impossible. The slices are best made the next day, cold, on a slicer or with a long thin blade — eye and hand together can't get the same translucency.