National Dish Switzerland: Voressen (Recipe)
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In many Swiss families, a pot of ragout sits on the stove on a Sunday, often started in the morning. That is exactly what Voressen is. Cubes of beef or veal braise for two hours in white wine and stock until they fall apart under a fork. It is served with mashed potatoes, noodles or Rösti.
About Voressen
Voressen is the Swiss word for a ragout of diced meat braised in a sauce. Ask for Voressen at the butcher’s and you will be given cubes from the shoulder or neck, from beef, veal, pork or lamb as you prefer. The beef Voressen in this recipe gets its sauce from browned vegetables, a little tomato purée, white wine and stock. A dash of cream rounds it off at the end. The sauce is light brown, smooth and mild rather than sharp. Voressen is eaten as an everyday meal and on Sundays, often with noodles, mashed potatoes or homemade Spätzli. It tastes almost better on the second day, because the meat soaks up the sauce overnight.
Ingredients (serves 1–2)
- 400 g beef Voressen (cubes from the shoulder, about 3 cm)
- 1 tbsp wheat flour
- 2 tbsp Bratbutter (clarified butter)
- 1 onion
- 1 carrot
- 50 g celeriac
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 tbsp tomato purée (tomato paste)
- 150 ml dry white wine, or for an alcohol-free version 120 ml beef stock plus 30 ml white grape juice and 1 tsp white wine vinegar
- 300 ml beef stock
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 sprigs of thyme
- 50 ml cream (35 % fat)
- Salt and black pepper
- 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
Shopping for the ingredients
Ask your butcher for beef Voressen or stewing meat from the shoulder. Shoulder, neck and shin contain connective tissue that turns tender during long braising and thickens the sauce. Rump is too lean and turns dry. In Germany, Bratbutter is usually called Butterschmalz. The wine should be dry, such as a Chasselas from Vaud or a simple Riesling-Silvaner. If you cook without alcohol, use beef stock from a jar, a splash of pale grape juice and a little vinegar for acidity. Good stock makes a big difference, whereas very salty stock cubes can quickly spoil the sauce.
Preparing the dish
Take the meat out of the fridge 30 minutes before cooking and pat the cubes thoroughly dry. Damp meat boils in the pot instead of browning. If the pieces vary in size, cut the large ones down so everything cooks at the same rate. Finely dice the onion, carrot and celeriac, and chop the garlic. Weigh out the flour and have the wine or its substitute and the stock ready. A heavy cast-iron or stainless steel pot with a lid holds the heat evenly.
Step-by-step instructions
- Season the meat cubes with salt and pepper, dust with 1 tbsp flour and tap off any excess.
- Heat 1 tbsp Bratbutter in the pot until very hot and brown the meat in two batches, 5 minutes per batch, until well coloured on all sides, then lift it out.
- Add the remaining Bratbutter to the pot and soften the onion, carrot and celeriac over a medium heat for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and tomato purée and fry for 1 minute.
- Deglaze with the white wine or the alcohol-free substitute, scrape the browned bits from the bottom of the pot and let the liquid reduce for 3 minutes.
- Return the meat to the pot with the stock, bay leaf and thyme, bring to the boil, then cover and braise over a low heat for 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours, until the cubes can be pulled apart with a fork.
- Remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs, stir in the cream and let the sauce simmer gently, uncovered, for 5 minutes until smooth and thickened.
- Season with salt and pepper and serve sprinkled with chopped parsley.
Gluten-free / lactose-free version
The only ingredient containing gluten in this recipe is the flour for dusting. Replace it with 1 tbsp rice flour, or thicken the sauce at the end with 1 tsp cornflour mixed with a little cold water. Check your stock, as some cubes contain wheat. For a lactose-free version, fry in rapeseed oil instead of Bratbutter. Replace the cream with lactose-free cream or 50 ml oat cooking cream. Clarified butter itself contains hardly any lactose, by the way, and many people tolerate it well.
Tips for vegans and vegetarians
For a vegetarian Voressen, use 400 g seitan cubes or king oyster mushrooms cut into thick pieces. Fry seitan for only 5 minutes and braise it for 25 minutes in vegetable stock, as it turns tough if cooked longer. For the vegan version, use rapeseed oil instead of Bratbutter and 50 ml soya cooking cream instead of cream. A teaspoon of soy sauce and a few dried porcini in the stock make up for the missing depth of the meat.
More tips and tricks
The most common mistake is rushing the browning. Put all the cubes in the pot at once and you get grey, boiled meat with no roasted flavour. Too much heat during braising does harm as well. The sauce should only bubble quietly. If the meat is still firm after two hours, it simply needs more time. Once cooled, Voressen keeps for three days in the fridge and freezes well, ideally without the cream, which you stir in fresh when reheating. For four to six people, double or triple all the quantities; the braising time stays the same.
Adapting the recipe to your taste
Veal Voressen is paler and more delicate. Use veal shoulder, leave out the tomato purée and allow 75 to 90 minutes of braising. With button mushrooms added for the last 20 minutes, the dish becomes something like a creamy ragout. If you like it heartier, use red wine and a little more tomato. A lamb Voressen can take rosemary and garlic in larger amounts. For children, a little extra cream makes the sauce milder.
Ingredient substitutions
Instead of beef, pork shoulder or veal Voressen work well. Celeriac can be replaced by a stick of celery, and the carrot by parsnip. If you have no fresh thyme, half a teaspoon of dried is enough. In place of cream you can stir in 2 tbsp crème fraîche, which is less likely to split when heated. At a pinch, water with a little salt and an extra bay leaf can stand in for the stock, though the sauce will taste flatter.
Drink pairing ideas
Voressen goes well with a cloudy apple juice from eastern Switzerland, either neat or as a spritzer with sparkling mineral water. Süssmost, the slightly tart apple juice sold in every Swiss shop, also works very well. If you prefer something less sweet, have an unsweetened black tea or a glass of elderflower cordial with plenty of water.
Serving and presentation ideas
Serve the Voressen in a warmed deep bowl or straight from the braising pot. A ring of mashed potatoes on the plate with the ragout in the middle looks tidy and keeps the sauce in place. Fresh parsley adds colour. A green salad with an oil and vinegar dressing goes nicely alongside. A crispy Swiss Rösti also makes a good side dish.
A bit of history
The term Voressen is used mainly in German-speaking Switzerland, where it simply means ragout or braised diced meat. In recipe collections and butcher’s shops it stands on an equal footing with goulash. The name is usually explained by the lavish feasts of earlier times. A ragout was often served there as the first course, that is, before the main meal. To this day, the feast of the Bénichon, the church festival in Fribourg, begins with a lamb Voressen. What is certain is that ragouts are widespread in traditional Swiss home cooking, for example as the filling of the Lucerne Chügelipastete. Beef Voressen is still found in the counters of many Swiss butchers today.
More recipe ideas
For even more ideas, discover more Swiss recipes.
Summary: Voressen
Voressen needs little hands-on work, but it does need time. Well-browned cubes from the shoulder, a small splash of acidity and two hours over gentle heat give you tender meat in a well-rounded sauce. Cook it the day before and you will have a more relaxed Sunday and a ragout that has had time to come together.
