I received some Big Island rose veal from Micah Richards of Mauka Meats and I couldn’t wait to try it. One of the many dishes I will try and make is called vitello tonnato. It is a classic Italian dish from the region of Piedmont. It is cooked veal with tuna sauce served chilled. The veal is locally raised on the Big Island by small family ranchers who practice quality pasture management and sustainable livestock practices. Puu Pale Ranch, owned and operated by the Vericella ohana on Hawaiian Home Lands in Waimea, raises calves weaned from milk then they spend some time on pasture eating grass. It’s the addition of grass in their diet that provides their coloration change to a vibrant rose-red hue. The animals are less than 1 year of age and weigh between 450-500 pounds.
Veal is not common in Hawaii, so a lot of locals are not familiar with the meat. Since it’s young, it is very tender and cooks up a white color similar to that of a pork chop. Veal is popular in Europe. You may have heard of dishes like veal scallopini or osso buco made from veal shank. Depending on what cut you are cooking with determines how you cook it. I love the classic vitello tonnato and the modern versions of it when they change how the veal is prepared or how the sauce changes.
The tuna dressing is classically made with cooked tuna or canned tuna, capers, eggs, lemon juice and olive oil, or some choose to use mayo or make their own mayo. After eating the classic version, I like to try something new. In recipe development, my mind focused on the varieties of tuna we have in Hawaii. I think of local yellowfin ahi, aku or skipjack tuna or tombo, our albacore versus canned tuna. I tried cooking all of them in various ways, steamed, confit, sauteed, big pieces, small pieces, all barely medium well to imitate the canned tuna version. I then made poke with all of them, seared half of them rare to medium rare and kept the other half raw. I had many versions of tuna to blend with the other ingredients. The wild card was using fried akule instead of tuna in the dressing. Using raw poke in the blender created a smoother texture, as the cooked or canned tuna can sometimes get gritty. The version I liked the best was blending seared rare yellowfin poke, with capers, anchovies, lemon juice, homemade mayo and a touch of chile pepper water.
There are infinite ways to make poke. The type of fish, and seasonings will vary from person to person. In making this sauce, I look at all the seasonings I add to the poke as the “salt and pepper” to the tuna that will stick to the fish when I sear it. It adds a lot of flavor to the exterior of the fish while keeping the inside still raw.
Back to the veal. Choose a cut that has little to no gristle, like the eye of the round. I simply season it with salt and pepper and cook it to medium rare, then chill. When cold, it will be easier to slice as thin as possible. This tuna sauce tastes similar to a Caesar dressing. You can serve it on a salad like a Caesar or cooked steak, pork chop, chicken breast and maybe call it chicken tonnato!
Learning classics create your foundation from which you can springboard into your own versions. Learning the methodology is sometimes more important. What is exciting to me is that we have, locally raised veal to cook with and eat. We are still losing the battle on how much food we import into Hawaii. It was 80%, and 25 years later and I believe we are closer to 90%. Let’s make Hawaii more self-reliant. Currently it is available at two farmers markets (Wednesday at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center and on Saturday in Waianae). Visit the Mauka Meats booth.
If you want to visit a restaurant that serves veal, check out Fete Hawaii, La Vie, Quiora Waikiki, natuRe Waikiki, Mud Hen Water and 53 by the Sea.
Chef and restaurateur Alan Wong has wowed diners around the world for decades, and is known as one of the founders of Hawaii Regional Cuisine. Find his column in Crave every first Wednesday. Currently, Wong is dba Alan Wong’s Consulting Co.
