Forelle Blau

Forelle Blau, or "blue trout" gets its name from the trout's blueish hue when you douse the fish in hot vinegar.

It's very simple. First prepare a stock from onion, black pepper, salt, bay leaf, juniper berry and assorted green "soup" vegetables (I just had onion).

Boil the stock for 30 minutes.



In the meantime heat 250 ml of vinegar. Just plain vinegar or white wine vinegar.



When the vinegar boils, pour it over the trout. The trout can be washed, but the slimy outside layer should be still intact. It's the slime which turns blue. Lightly salt the trout on the inside.



Then slide the trout and vinegar in the stock and let it simmer for 15 minutes on a very low fire.



Serve with potatoes, green vegetables and Meerrettich Sahne (horseradish cream).

Meerrettich Sahne

Horseradish cream; it's a cold sauce, perfect for trout.

Grate some fresh horseradish root. You need about 4 tablespoons.

Mix the grated horseradish with 150 ml soured cream or crème fraîche. Add 2 tablespoons lemon juice, black pepper and salt. Mix well and keep in the fridge for one hour before serving.

Tafelspitz

Tafelspitz is the German word for a certain cut of beef, from a young ox. It's located at the hip of the ox. It's also know as Schwanzstück (technically Tafelspitz is only a small part of the Schwanzstück) or tri-tip (in the United States), although when I read the tri-tip Wikipedia entry this seems a different part of beef: Bottom Sirloin. It's all very confusing.

Tafelspitz cut:


Tafelspitz is also the word of a typical Austrian dish. Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria, was a great lover of Tafelspitz.

I went to my local butcher not knowing the Dutch name for Tafelspitz. I asked for a cut of the hip of an ox, and told him I wanted to simmer the meat in stock. There was some confusion on part of the butcher; he didn't seem to know what I wanted. Then he told me to get entrecôte. I don't buy meat often enough to know which cut an entrecôte is, so I bought it believing my butcher knew best and went home. Then I discovered entrecôte is a cut from the rib, not the hip or tail.

It still don't know the Dutch word for Tafelspitz. Take a pick! It seems the Dutch never boil beef but always fry it.

Wrong meat?


I went ahead and simmered my expensive piece of entrecôte in 2 liters of water, onion, leek, salt, black pepper, bay leaf and cloves.



First boil the water, turn down the heat, then add the meat. Simmer for 90 minutes on low heat. The water shouldn't boil.



Serve with potatoes, boiled vegetables and Töginger Meerrettichsauce.

Töginger Meerrettichsauce

A simple but very effective sauce made from fresh horseradish root.

It's based on butter, flower and beef stock.

Ingredients:
10 cm fresh horseradish root (finely grated).
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flower
1 tablespoon breadcrumbs
250 ml beef stock.
a dash of cream
salt.

Melt the butter in a sauce pan. Add flower, breadcrumbs, beef stock and horseradish and whisk. Add salt and cream.

Don't use commercial stock, otherwise the sauce will be too salty.

Packed in foil fresh horseradish will stay fresh for a couple of weeks if kept cold.













Serve on cooked beef, like Tafelspitz.

Bruine bonen met zoutvlees

Bruine bonen met zoutvlees; 'brown beans and salted beef' is a classic Surinamese dish. 

First you have to boil the salted beef for about 30 minutes to soften the meat and discard most of the salt. After you have boiled the meat, cut it in small cubes.

In the meantime fry in oil some onion rings and garlic. Most recipes call of a stock cube at this point but you need to skip this; the dish will be too salty in my opinion. Add the beef and fry for 10 minutes. Add a few spoons of tomato puree, some halved fresh tomatoes, fry for a couple of minutes, and add can of beans. Instead of brown beans I used kidney beans. Add a glass of water or (optional) beef stock. Add bay leaf, pimento, a Madame Jeantte pepper and simmer for 30 minutes. Garnish with fresh leaf celery and/or add some sprigs of celery while cooking.