Beef carpaccio is one of the most famous Italian antipasti, traditional appetizers. Thinly sliced, lightly seasoned meat practically melts in your mouth and conquers with its refined taste. The refined simplicity of this dish requires the highest quality ingredients.
The history of carpaccio
Beef carpaccio is the invention of the famous bartender Giuseppe Cipriane. In the 30s of the last century, this charming Italian opened Harry's bar in Venice, which has come to the taste of many famous personalities, from writers to millionaires. Bar patrons included Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote, F. C. Fitzgerald, Charlie Chaplin, Orson Welles and many more.
Local aristocrats who loved to spend the evening enjoying pleasant conversation, good food and drinks were also frequent guests of the institution. Among them was Countess Amalia Nani Mocenigo. It was thanks to her, or rather her anemia, that a new dish was born.
The decanter, suffering from anemia, was forbidden by doctors to eat cooked meat. Moreover, she was advised to eat raw steaks. But is it really to the face of a refined aristocrat to bite into a bleeding steak? Chef Cipriani quickly found a way out. He went to the kitchen and cut the freshest fillets into the finest slices, and to give them flavor, he sprinkled them with a light sauce.
The dish was not only to the taste of the decanter. It remains only to give it a name. It was at this time that an exhibition of the 16th century Italian artist Vittore Carpaccio was held in Venice. On Cipriani, like on many others, the skill of the painter made an indelible impression. The intense red color often used by the master attracted attention. Cipriani found it to be similar in color to a beef fillet and the appetizer was immediately named carpaccio.
Many culinary experts believe that the inventive chef's carpaccio was inspired by the Piedmontese recipe known as carne all'albese - meat from Alba. In it, the finest pieces of veal are marinated in lemon juice, sprinkled with olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper and served with parmesan and white truffle shavings.
Classic carpaccio recipe
In modern cuisine, carpaccio means thin slices of something with a light sauce. But since this is still an author's dish, it has a traditional recipe. If you want to cook exactly the same carpaccio as was served at Harry's bar, then you will need:
- 100 g beef fillet;
- 1 egg yolk;
- 150 ml of olive oil;
- ½ lemon;
- salt;
- ground white pepper;
- some Worcester sauce;
- 1 tbsp. a spoonful of milk with a fat content of at least 2.5%.
Dry the beef fillet on all sides, wrap with cling film and put in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.
Make homemade mayonnaise. Whisk the egg yolk, freshly squeezed lemon juice and a pinch of salt into a stiff foam. Then, while whisking, add a little olive oil. Continue pouring the oil until a stable, creamy emulsion forms. Add Worcestershire sauce and white pepper. Dilute the sauce with milk and pour into the dispenser bottle.
Cut the beef into thin slices across the grain. Place the pieces in plastic wrap and beat them with a hammer until they are almost widowed. Spread the meat in a single layer on a wide plate and pour over the sauce, it should not cover the beef, but form fancy curls in the style of Jackson Pollock. Serve immediately. This kind of cooking is called carpaccio Cipriane or, in Italian, carpaccio alla cipriani.
Modern Beef Carpaccio Recipe
In modern cuisine, the classic is the recipe for carpaccio in fine herbal boning. To prepare it you will need:
- 100 g beef fillet;
- 200 g olive oil;
- 50 g Dijon mustard;
- 2 tbsp. spoons of thyme leaves;
- 200 ml of olive oil;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- 10 g pink peppercorns;
- 20 g black peppercorns.
Grind pink and black pepper in a mortar. Pass the garlic through a press. Whisk 100 ml of olive oil with Dijon mustard, add thyme, garlic and pepper mixture. Mix well. Remove all sinews and pieces of fat from the meat. Dip in the resulting mixture on all sides and wrap tightly in cling film, trying to make the piece as symmetrical as possible. Place the beef in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.
Use a sharp and wide chef's knife or electric knife to cut the meat into thin slices. Place on a plate and season with olive oil. Serve this carpaccio with capers, arugula and parmesan flakes.
