Tafelspitz…the king of the beef dishes

Ingredients:

About 2 kg (4 lbs. 3 oz.) silverside and 3 kg (6 lbs. 10 oz.) flank shank

1 ½ carrots

1 ½ yellow carrots and

½ celeriac (celery root), peeled and trimmed

1 onion with skin, halved

½ leek

10 black peppercorns

Salt

A bit of lovage

6 slices of marrowbone

Chives for garnishing

In a pan without oil, brown the unskinned onion halves on their cut sides until almost blackened. Set aside. Wash the marrowbone and meat with warm water and drain well. Bring about three litres of water to a boil in a pot, add the meat, peppercorns, onion halves and lovage and simmer gently for 3 – 4 hours. Keep skimming off the foam and cloudy substance. About 30 minutes before the end of the cooking time, add the root vegetables and leek.

Remove the meat from the soup, strain the broth and salt to taste. Add marrowbone and simmer for 5 more minutes. Cut the meat slices, place them in a suitably sized casserole with a portion of the soup, the marrowbone, the root vegetables and the leek and bring to a boil again. Sprinkle with chopped chives.

Suggested side dishes: Apple-horseradish or breadcrumb-horseradish sauce, a chive sauce and Vienna-style vegetables (creamy spinach, cabbage, French or green beans with dill, creamy pumpkin). If your are partial to potatoes, you can cook them, peeled, right in the soup. Fried potatoes are also very typical as an accompaniment.

Guten Appetit!