I have always been under the impression that Central European food is, to put it charitably, stodgy. My impression isn’t entirely wrong; Austrian cuisine is thick with dumplings, meat, potatoes, yeasted breads and cakes which I imagine are designed to fortify one through the *endlessly* endless cold months.
However, I was pleasantly surprised on a road trip through Styria (Steiermark) last year, to find this on the menu: Steirisches Saures Rindfleisch. Apart from the German adjectives contained therein which are, infuriatingly, declined according to the gender of the noun they describe and cause me no end of grief, this is a very pleasant thing indeed.
Beef brisket is perched atop leeks, carrots and onions, decorated with a sprig or two of herbage and poached gently in water until you have a nice broth and a juicy lump of meat.
The beef is then cooled, thinly sliced and doused liberally with vinegar and the lovely green pumpkin seed oil which is also a specialty of the region. A shower of diced red onions, parsley and a couple of pickled chillies finishes the dish which to me, is like a delightful European take on my old favourite, Thai yum.
Been pleasantly surprised recently?
Sterisches Saures Rindfleisch
The meat does shrink but it still serves a lot of people, around 8 with sides. Don’t use a smaller piece though, as brisket becomes tough unless cooked in large chunks.
1 kg beef brisket in one piece with the silver skin and fat trimmed off
1 small whole leek, rinsed and cut in carrot length pieces
2 carrots, washed, topped and tailed but not peeled
1 medium onion, cut in half but not peeled
A few sprigs of flatleaf parsley
Place the vegetables evenly in the bottom of a pot just big enough to hold them, and the meat.
Balance the meat on the vegetables so it doesn’t touch the bottom and carefully pour in just enough water to cover.
Bring the water to the boil on medium heat, skim off the scum which will appear and lower the heat to its lowest setting. If you have gas, you may need a heat mat so it’s not too hot; there should be a bubble only every few seconds or so.
Cook for about 2 hours, remove the meat and cool. It should be firm but not hard.
When fully cooled, refrigerate.
Meanwhile, strain the broth and save for soup or stock.
On a meat slicer, or with a very sharp knife, slice the meat as thinly as possible and lay on a plate.
Topping
White vinegar
Pumpkin seed oil
Diced red onion
Minced parsley
Sea salt
I used a roughly 1:1 proportion of vinegar to oil and salted generously but taste as you go; you need a lot more oil and vinegar than you’d imagine, start with 1/3 cup of each and pour over. Salt it and taste, there should be a pool of sauce for mopping up with bread.
Leave a comment, make my day!
YUS, this is my kind of dish!
I know, was thinking of you when I made it ;P Wonder if you can get the oil in NZ? I could send some but dunno if customs would let it in. Call and ask them if you want and I’ll try if you can’t find it.
The bottom-most photo has just the right balance of contrast, colour, as well as a very balanced composition. This is one of the best photos yet on your flog so far, and i think that it could very easily be found among the pages of Saveur, Gourmet, etc…
Fanks! I liked it too, though maybe the corner is a bit bright.
100 Euros for you, Liebchen, for simply getting the grammar in the title correct ;)
What is the green side dish? We thought it looked like boiled pine needles…
It’s an Italian green I bought in Die Schweiz on the weekend called something like Brana de Fetta but can’t remember exactly and it’s a pain because not on Google and I wanna blog it.
Agretti, aka Salsola soda, aka Barba Di Frate (Friar’s Beard).
My google skills have done me proud yet again (^^)v
ZOMG you rule.
Sas.. how do u manage to cut the meat this thin?! I cant even do it with an electric knife…
I used a cleaver because my knife was out getting a new edge on…Uh, no useful tips sorry :/
I’m somehow a bit scared to try this kind of recipe but that’s probably because I cook very little with meat. Thanks for showing us a less heavy side of Austrian cuisine – your photos are wonderful too.
Thanks Vanessa…I was vegetarian for about 6 years and then I started eating meat again and I know the apprehension: it’s expensive and seems so much more wasteful to wreck meat than like, spinach. Then I worked in a fine dining resstaurant though and all I made was meat and sauce so I got used to it ;P
That looks delicious! :D My Austrian friend said that in Summer they still eat the same food as in Winter (although I’d guess in smaller portions as they wouldn’t need as much). Although when I was there I saw that there was a move to modernise the cuisine at some places :)
This looks like a dish I could enjoy! I don’t eat much in the meat area but my husband does and when I come across something we could both be pleased with, I make it-that easy. Great share!
Oh, this looks great! What piece of meat did you use exactly?
I’m just starting to learn everything about the different cow-parts that are used in my native Austria so I can try to reenact the dishes here in Paris. And knowing my fellow Austrians I’d be surprised if it were really a simple word like “Rinderbrust”.
I think it was actually Tafelspitz. According to Wikipedia: “Austrian butchers gave almost every muscle of beef a separate name” and “Tafelspitz is a cut of beef from the bottom sirloin primal cut.”
Comments on this entry are closed.