Cook and Drink

When you visit a French butcher or supermarket, you are bound to find paupiettes. In general, it is a thin slice of meat, stuffed, rolled up and tied. Lots of possibilities: the outside could be veal, beef, pork, chicken, lamb or even fish. The inside could be meat, or a mixture of meat and vegetables, or a duxelles or well, you get the idea.
In the Provence you will find so called Alouettes sans Tête (meaning larks without a head). A thin slice of beef is stuffed with bacon, parsley and garlic. The alouettes are quickly fried until golden and then cooked in a sauce with onions, wine and various herbs.
In the Netherlands and Belgium a paupiette is called Blinde Vink (meaning blind finch). This is a thin slice of pork or veal, stuffed with minced (pork) meat.  

Preparing paupiettes is not obvious. Many recipes suggest cooking the paupiette in a sauce, but that’s not what we recommend. The paupiettes will be a bit dry and bland. Others suggest transferring the paupiettes to a hot oven, with an even more disappointing result. We think the best way is to quickly fry the paupiettes until golden and then transfer to the oven and braise with some liquid on low temperature.

We asked our favourite butcher to make paupiette de veau (sometimes called melon de veau). A thin layer of veal stuffed with a mixture of minced veal and pork meat, with a generous amount of chopped sage and a hint of salt. It is decorated with two leaves of sage.

Wine Pairing

We enjoyed the dish with a glass of Portuguese red wine, produced by Vidigal. The wine is made with aragonez, castelão and cabernet grapes. The wine has a nice red colour and aromas of fruit and herbs. Its taste is light, with some tannins and a touch of oak. In general, you’re looking for a smooth, easy to drink red wine with character.

What You Need

• 2 Paupiettes de Veau
• 1 small Carrot
• 1 Celery stalk
• 1 Leek
• Veal Stock
• Dried Oregano
• Olive Oil
• Butter
• Black Pepper

What You Do

1. Pre-heat your oven to 120 °C or 250 °F
2. Thinly slice carrot, celery stalk and leek.
3. Heat a heavy iron skillet, add butter and olive oil
4. Quickly fry the paupiette, top and bottom only
5. Transfer paupiettes to a plate
6. Reduce heat
7. Add carrot, leek and celery
8. After a few minutes deglaze with veal stock
9. Add oregano
10. Transfer the paupiettes back to the skillet
11. Transfer the skillet to the oven
12. Leave until the internal temperature is 68 °C or 155 °F
13. Remove the paupiettes from the skillet and allow to rest for 5 – 10 minutes (depending on the size). You could wrap them in aluminium foil
14. Put the skillet back on the cooktop or hob
15. Reduce the sauce, taste, adjust, add black pepper
16. Serve on a hot plate with potato puree combined with wild garlic, watercress or rapini