Bookmark us

AddThis Social Bookmark Button

beef

The Tyrol: Tiroler Leber (Calves Liver Tyrolean Style)

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.04
 
      Title: Tiroler Leber (Calves Liver Tyrolean Style)
 Categories: Meats, Tyrolean, Main dishes
      Yield: 4 Servings
 
  1 1/2 lb Calves' liver
      2 tb Plain flour
      1    Small onion, finely chopped
      2 oz Lard or pork dripping
           Salt and pepper
    1/4 pt Sour cream
      1 ts Wine vinegar
      1 tb Chopped capers
      1 ts Grated lemon rind
      2 tb Good stock
 
  Slice the liver and dust one side of each slice lightly without half

Malta: Braġjoli / Bragioli (Savory Stuffed Beef Rolls Braised in Wine)

This straightforward but very tasty dish often has a seemingly weird name inflicted on it by those from English-speaking countries: "beef olives." But, though there are no olives in bragioli, the phrase still makes sense.

The word olive started to be used for any slice of meat rolled up around a stuffing as far back as 1598, according to the Oxford English Dictionary. There was even a verb form -- to "olive" something meant to roll it up this way. Unfortunately the OED gives no hints as to where the phrase might originally have come from. The rolled up slices of meat must have looked like stuffed olives to a fair number of people. (Though plainly not all, as another name for this kind of preparation is "veal birds", possibly related to the French oiseaux sans têtes or alouettes sans têtes, "headless birds" or "larks without heads". By comparison, maybe "beef olives" isn't so bad after all.)

Anyway: back to the bragioli. (And if some Maltese-speaking reader would like to tell us what bragioli actually means, we would be very grateful.) The basic, classic version of the recipe involves a stuffing made with bread -- ideally the typical Maltese bread Ħobż Malti -- as well as bacon, garlic, parsley, and sometimes wedges of hardboiled egg -- all stuffed inside good quality beefsteaks pounded thin. The bragioli are then garnished with sautéed onions, carrot and bay leaves, and slowly braised in a robust local red wine.

Click "read more" for the recipe.

Ireland: Spiced Beef (March 15, 2008)

At holiday times -- especially the Christmas and New Year's period, but at other times of year as well -- spiced beef can be found in almost every butcher's window in Ireland, often with a red ribbon around it to point up its special status. A cousin of corned beef and second cousin of pastrami, spiced beef is such a mainstay of any butcher's business, and so popular with the customers, that annual competitions are held by such organizations as the Associated Craft Butchers of Ireland to determine who makes the best spiced beef, regionally and at the national level. (See the results of the 2007 competition here.)

Most Irish people have been willing to let the butcher do most of the work on this dish, as it's rather labor-intensive. The beef first has to be cut, rolled, and brined. Then after the brining comes a spicing period that can run from several days to a week or more, depending on each butcher's unique recipe.

However, newer and more casual forms of the recipe have started making the rounds. These homebrew versions eliminate the initial brining by simply starting with corned beef, which has already been brined: so they take considerably less time to make. The recipe we've adapted here takes about three days, though you can leave the beef to spice for an additional day or two if you prefer.

Once the spicing period is finished, the beef is cooked by slow simmering, and then allowed to cool. It's served thinly sliced, accompanied by brown bread and butter, and (if you like the black stuff) a pint of Guinness.

Click "read more" for the recipe.

(PS: if you're reading this on Saturday, March 15th, and you're interested in making this dish, you've got just time enough -- if you start early -- to have it ready for dinner on Monday night.)

Luxembourg: Feierstengszalot (Cold Beef Salad with Creamy Mustard-Gherkin Sauce)

Great either as a lunch entree or as a side dish for the buffet table.

1234next ›last »
Syndicate content

Live European recipe advice