Basque · Iparralde (France) · main

Axoa de Veau

Axoa de Veau reads umami 5.6, richness 5.3 and allium 4.0 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Basque · Iparralde (France) main, about 2 hr 30 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

The measured notes (of 18)

Umami 5.6 · Richness 5.3 · Allium 4.0 · Salinity 3.6 · Sweetness 2.0 · Herbaceous 1.6 · Warm Spice 1.6 · Earthy 1.3 · Heat 1.2 · Bitterness 1.0 · Floral 0.9 · Fruity 0.8 · Nutty 0.6 · Sourness 0.6

What's in it (15)

Time & effort: about 2 hr 30 min (2 hr 27 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 60.5 kcal, 6.6 g protein, 1.7 g fat, 4.5 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (9 steps)

  1. Axoa — say it ah-SHO-ah — is the dish of the Espelette pepper festival, and the pepper is not negotiable. Piment d'Espelette is an AOP chilli with a fruity, slow, low-level warmth entirely unlike cayenne or paprika; substituting either gives you a different and blunter dish. Order it from a Basque or good French grocer.
  2. Chop the veal by hand with a heavy knife into rough 1 cm dice. Machine-mincing wrecks it: axoa should have small distinct pieces of meat with a little bite, not the pasty texture of a bolognese. Traditionally it was chopped with two knives on a board, and shoulder is the right cut because it has enough connective tissue to stay moist through an hour of cooking.
  3. Melt the duck fat in a wide heavy pan over medium-low heat. Add the onions and both kinds of green pepper with a pinch of the salt and cook them very slowly for 25 minutes, stirring now and then, until they are completely soft and sweet and have given up their water. They should not brown. Southwest France cooks in duck fat, and it carries the pepper flavour in a way oil does not.
  4. Stir in the garlic and cook 2 minutes more, then the piment d'Espelette and the crumbled dried peppers, and let them warm through in the fat for 1 minute so the chilli opens up.
  5. Add the veal and turn it in the vegetables over medium heat for 5 minutes, just until it loses its raw colour. Do not brown it hard. Axoa is a pale, gentle dish with no fond and no deep roast flavour; a heavy sear turns it into an ordinary stew.
  6. Pour in the wine and let it bubble for 2 minutes, then the stock, the thyme and the bay. Bring it to a bare simmer, half-cover, and cook 1 hour 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the veal is tender and the mixture is thick and spoonable rather than soupy.
  7. Take out the thyme and bay, season, and finish with another pinch of Espelette over the top. If it is looser than you want, uncover and reduce for 10 minutes.
  8. Serve it in a bowl with plain boiled potatoes, and Irouléguy to drink. It is better reheated the next day.
  9. Substitutions: Italian frying peppers (about 500 g) can stand in for the green Anglet frying peppers; chicken stock can stand in for the light veal stock; another dry white wine can stand in for the dry white Irouléguy.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.