Carpaccio of beef fillet (raw beef) Recipe

[Ishbel]

400 g beef fillet,
2 lemons plus zest
olive oil
freshly ground salt and pepper, to taste
juice from 1 additional lemon
1 large beef style tomato
Italian or Spanish cheese eg ewe's cheeses, Parmesan or Manchego
sprigs of chervil

This process sounds odd, but works! Place the beef fillet in the freezer to harden or 'set' the meat. Don't freeze it, the object is just to make it firm enough to slice easily.

Peel and de-seed tomato, then dice into small pieces. small Place the cubed tomato in a bowl. Add olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper, and whisk all the time you mix.

Zest the lemons and blanch the zests for a couple of minutes. Remove the white pith and release the segments into neat pieces.

Grind salt and pepper onto a large plate. Cover and place in the coldest part of your fridge.

Remove the beef from the freezer and slice it thinly.
For extra thin slices, (and how it is usually presented in restaurants in Europe) place the slices between sheets of baking paper and carefully roll with a rolling pin. This will ensure the slices are almost transparent. Be careful, as they will easily tear, and the object is to keep the slices as whole as possible.

Place the slices on the seasoned plate. Season the surface with more salt and pepper. Coat with lemon marinade taking care to coat all the meat.
Decorate with blanched zests and lemon segments.
Add a few shavings of sheep milk cheese and finish
with sprigs of chervil.
This dish needs to be served immediately after assembly.

 

[GB]

This recipe sounds wonderful! I have never tried carpaccio, but I would really like to experience it. I have never had raw meat in any way shape or form, but I think I would probably love it. The thought of raw fish used to turn my stomach, but now sushi is one of my favorites. I have a feeling it would be the same with carpaccio.

 

[Ishbel]

GB
The secret is to get the meat as thin as possible. I really like carpaccio.

I first had it in Anton Mosimann's restaurant in London, about 7 years ago. I make it as a starter when I have those friends to dinner who I know will enjoy 'unusual' dishes

I had a tuna dish, ceviche style - but have to say that it had been battened out so thinly that it tasted like meat, not fish!

 

[Guiedo]

Yum

I absolutely adore this dish.
It was my gastronomic pleasure to eat the tuna version in Tonga a couple of years ago. The fish was so fresh that it had been caught that afternoon by the chef himself and served that night. It was so very good I had to go in for seconds and then had the same as a main only very lightly seared with a Cointrau sauce.
The beef variety is possibly one of my favourite dishes to both eat and prepare because it actually involves some skill. To be a bastard to any new chef that came into my kitchen I would often get them to do this dish first up to see their knife skills.

 

[Ishbel]

I'm not a chef, I've just been lucky enough to take a number of courses at cookery schools in the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe.

I am strictly an amateur, but enthusiastic and a stickler for getting the dish 'right'. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with my knife skills

I'm doing another two day course in a fortnight. Fish.... not my favourite, but my husband adores seafood, so I cook quite a lot of fish dishes.

 

[Guiedo]

That was not ment to be a dig

I meant nothing by my comment about knife skills other than to say the quality of training in New Zealand can sometimes leave alot to be desired, especially tose coming out of technical colleges. There seems to be a large emphasis placed on being creative with ingredients annd recipe creation and some of the plonkers I have had the misfortune to work with have been unable to do this dish. I was trained by a British navy chef and he was an absolute tyrant on knife skills so learnt the old school way. My next chef was a perfectionist Austrian, and I am very grateful he was the same, learn the cuts first then the rest. Please I meant not to insult or deminish anybody, I was merely putting out that it is a fantastic dish and one that shows a high degree of technical ability to get right.

 

[Lugaru]

Hmm... I've been having a craving for this for some time yet havent ever prepared it myself. If I see a piece of meat that looks pretty enough tomorrow I'm gonna give it a shot.

Btw should I keep my eye out for something that's medium marbled or as lean as possible?

 

[luvs]

i absolutely LOVE carpaccio! it's got to be one of my favorite appetizers out there. i think it IS my favorite. if your local Ruth'sChris offers this, get it! if you can handle raw meat, i mean.
the kind i've had didn't have the tomato on it; it had a garlic sauce and greens on the side and parmesan, plus crusty toast on the side.

 

[QSis]

I want to make raw beef carpaccio. (Clive's post on the truffle oil thread reminded me to look this up)

Alton Brown made carpaccio the other night on FoodTV, but he seared the beef and said something that I didn't quite catch about why he said had to do that (something about the food police, maybe?)

Anyway, I want it the way it's traditionally served, but don't want to be an idiot about this, either.

How risky is it to serve it raw? How much more risky than serving a rare steak?

Lee

 

[BreezyCooking]

I would think that, just like with sushi, the safety of enjoying raw beef would depend on where you get it from. A supermarket isn't going to be a safe source. And if you can find an individual butcher store these days, again - it all depends on the source of the meat & how it's been handled.

 

[JDP]

I love carpaccio, we will even make it with back strap of venison. I like to put a little balsamic vinegar, and sprikle some capers over the meat. A litte chiffonade of basil works great too.

I Wisconsin we a a ground version of this referred to as a cannible sandwhich. It it served with diced onion, diced hardboiled egg, and cocktail caraway rye. Your grind your own sirlion fresh. Yes I know there are some food safety issues with this but it hasn't killed us yet. Maybe the drinking that usaualyy occurs with this kills off any bugs.

JDP

 

[karadekoolaid]

I want to make raw beef carpaccio. (Clive's post on the truffle oil thread reminded me to look this up)

Alton Brown made carpaccio the other night on FoodTV, but he seared the beef and said something that I didn't quite catch about why he said had to do that (something about the food police, maybe?)

Anyway, I want it the way it's traditionally served, but don't want to be an idiot about this, either.

How risky is it to serve it raw? How much more risky than serving a rare steak?

Lee

I'm not an expert on American supermarkets, but I'd have thought that the Health Police would have ensured total and absolute perfection regarding meat and fish. Raw is the only way to serve carpaccio - you need to chill the meat so you can slice it extremely thin.
The original "Harry's Bar" recipe for carpaccio calls for "Shell of Beef"; all fat, sinew, gristle, etc., etc., removed. The original recipe uses a classic mayonnaise with Worcestershire Sauce, crisscrossed over the meat, creating a red and white "work of art" on the plate. No mushrooms, no parmesan, no olives, capers, parsley, breadcrumbs, banana slices, deep-fried fluted anchovies, crispy leeks, or any other adornment!!
The idea for "Carpaccio" came from an Italian artist who loved to paint with reds crisscrossed with white .

 

[BreezyCooking]

Cliveb - you DEFINITELY are not up on U.S. meat production. And as far as the "health police". Excuse me while I bend over laughing.

Every single package of supermarket meat in the U.S. comes with a warning about cooking it to near incineration stage to avoid getting sick.

Some of us, obviously, don't take that advice seriously & still enjoy rare steaks, lamb, burgers, etc. But those little stickers on the package keep the U.S. Health Inspectors free from lawsuits due to illness from eating less than well-done meat.

It's truly a SHAME that after more than 40 years, the health/food inspection department in the U.S. apparently not only hasn't changed since my grandparents' days (oh - the stories they told me!!!!!), but it's now even worse. Instead of fixing the problem, they put stickers on the meat/poultry advising everyone to cook it to oblivion because they can't get their act together & actually CLEAN UP THE MEAT & POULTRY INDUSTRY!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[karadekoolaid]

HAHA!! That's a good story!
I can still go to the Butcher's section of the supermarket and ask the guy to prepare my steaks, tenderloin, etc. how I like it. Whilst there are lots of little plastic packets available, most of us pick them up only when in a hurry.

 

[Chopstix]

When I make beef carpaccio, I drizzle the empty platter with the acidic dressing before laying out the beef slices. I don't coat or top the beef with any other acid so that the beef does not turn gray or whitish from contact with acid. Looks much better when not consumed immediately.