Pariserbøf - Parisian Beef

Pariserbøf or Parisian Beef is a pan fried version of beef tartar. It's a classic Danish dish. A musician friend made this for me the first time many years ago and it was delicious. I stayed with he and his wife while we did a short tour and he made the dish again when I asked about it so that I could watch the process.

It's not complicated at all but it takes a good bit of prep time to dice and mince all of the ingredients but that's always been one of my favorite parts of cooking.

You need freshly ground, high quality beef. I have a local butcher here on the island, so I'm pretty lucky. I used 400gr of very lean beef and 250gr of beef with 17% fat. Most recipes call for only very lean beef, but I like the flavor from a bit of fat content.

I put the beef into a large bowl and added salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.

This is what you'll need:

1 medium red onion, diced

1/2 cup diced pickled beets

1/2 cup diced sweet pickles

1 jar small capers

2 large eggs

oil or butter for frying

Put the meat into a bowl, add salt, pepper and minced accoutrements, adding the eggs last.

Mix the meat and ingredients gently. Overworking the meat causes it to become very dry and has a terrible rough texture. This is a mistake that's often made when dealing with ground meats of any kind.

After it's mixed, cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours but no more than 6 hours, as this will be left a bit rare in the middle. This is the reason for using freshly ground, good quality meat. You want to be sure to avoid any bacteria.

Shape the mixture into nice sized patties and gently place into a frying pan with butter or vegetable oil over medium high heat. I use butter for mine. Olive oil is not a good idea, as it has to distinct flavor and will change the taste of the meat. Since this only uses eggs as a binder and no bread crumbs or flour, the patties can easily break apart. I use 2 spatulas to gently turn them over while browning. You want to get a nice caramelization on the meat patties on each side. Fry all of the mixture in small batches to ensure the heat is maintained, evenly in the pan. If you are going to save some of the patties for leftovers (they make a great breakfast served with a fried egg on top) cook them to a good medium to medium well to avoid bacteria.

This dish is classically served with a sprinkling of diced beets, capers and onions on grilled or toasted bread with a raw egg yolk on top. Raw eggs really aren't my favorite and I have an immune deficiency, so it's not a good idea for me. If you do use the egg yolk, PLEASE be sure it's the freshest farm raised or pasteurized eggs you can find!

I served mine with honey buttered carrots and sugar peas and baked sweet potato fries.

Now, go cook, eat and start a revolution!

Teedy Cooks!