Tafelspitz
Vienna's boiled beef dish, documented as Emperor Franz Joseph I's near-daily meal — the 1912 official Austro-Hungarian domestic-science cookbook notes his private table was never without it. The beef must be simmered gently, never boiled hard, with charred onion halves and marrow bones for a full 2.5-3 hours, and served with two distinct sauces rather than one: apple-horseradish (fresh horseradish, not the bottled kind) and a chive-sour cream sauce.
Meat
⚠ Contains: Dairy. Always check your own ingredients — this isn't a guarantee for severe allergies.
Ingredients
- 1.2 kg beef rump cap (or chuck/brisket)
- 2 marrow bones
- 1 onion, halved (unpeeled)
- 2 carrots
- 1 celery root, chunked
- 1 leek
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp peppercorns
- Salt
- Fresh horseradish, grated
- 1 apple, grated
- 200ml whipping cream
- 200ml sour cream
- Chives, chopped
Steps
- Sear the onion halves cut-side down in a dry pan until blackened.
- Simmer the beef and marrow bones in water with the charred onion, carrots, celery root, leek, bay leaf, and peppercorns for 2.5-3 hours, skimming foam as needed.
- Rest the meat in the broth, then slice thinly against the grain.
- Whip the cream and fold in grated horseradish and apple for the apple-horseradish sauce.
- Mix the sour cream with chopped chives for the chive sauce.
- Serve the broth as a first course, then the sliced beef with both sauces and roasted potatoes.