Bündnerfleisch — Grisons Air-Dried Beef
Lean beef salted with mountain herbs, pressed and dried for weeks in the cold Alpine wind, then sliced so thin it becomes translucent. The queen of Grisons preserves, eaten as is.
Lean beef salted with mountain herbs, pressed and dried for weeks in the cold Alpine wind, then sliced so thin it becomes translucent. The queen of Grisons preserves, eaten as is.
You take the finest lean piece, rub it with salt and herbs from the heights, and let the wind of the passes do the work — for weeks, without hurrying. We pressed it between two boards to give it its square shape. When I got on the train for Paris, my mother always slipped me a piece: it doesn't spoil, you cut it thin as a sheet of paper. Thin, thin — you know that's all I love, removing until only the essential remains.
- •Lean beef (leg), in pieces — a nice cut (base)
- •Salt — generously (salting and preservation)
- •Mountain herbs and berries (juniper, bay, thyme) — to flavor (aromatics)
- •Cold, dry Alpine air — several weeks (drying)
Bündnerfleisch — Grisons Air-Dried Beef
Lean beef salted with mountain herbs, pressed and dried for weeks in the cold Alpine wind, then sliced so thin it becomes translucent. The queen of Grisons preserves, eaten as is.
Why this dish? Dried Grisons meat accompanied the valley inhabitants all year round and fit in a bundle. Giacometti constantly traveled back and forth between Stampa and Paris by train; a slice of this meat that doesn't spoil was a piece of home slipped into the suitcase.
You take the finest lean piece, rub it with salt and herbs from the heights, and let the wind of the passes do the work — for weeks, without hurrying. We pressed it between two boards to give it its square shape. When I got on the train for Paris, my mother always slipped me a piece: it doesn't spoil, you cut it thin as a sheet of paper. Thin, thin — you know that's all I love, removing until only the essential remains.
Ingredients (period version)
- Lean beef (leg), in pieces — a nice cut (base)
- Salt — generously (salting and preservation)
- Mountain herbs and berries (juniper, bay, thyme) — to flavor (aromatics)
- Cold, dry Alpine air — several weeks (drying)
Ingredients
- Lean beef piece (top round/eye of round), trimmed — 1 kg (base)
- Coarse salt — 300 g (salting)
- Juniper berries, peppercorns, bay leaves, thyme — 2 tbsp (aromatics)
- Garlic — 2 cloves (aromatic)
Method
- Mix coarse salt and crushed aromatics, completely coat the meat in a dish.
- Refrigerate for 1 week, turning the piece daily and pouring off released juices.
- Rinse quickly, pat dry, press between two weighted boards overnight.
- Hang in a cool (10–14 °C), airy, dark place for 4 to 6 weeks, until the meat loses about 40% of its weight and becomes firm.
- Slice as thinly as possible with a knife, almost transparent, and serve as is with a little rye bread.
How it was made : Bündnerfleisch has been documented for centuries in Grisons, where the cold, dry air of the high valleys replaced smoking. It was regularly pressed to give it its characteristic rectangular shape. Before refrigeration, this meat that kept for months was insurance against long winters and journeys.
The contemporary twist : Served as a veil on a black slate, the translucent slices laid like gold leaf — self-assured Grisons minimalism.
Sources : Patrimoine culinaire suisse — Bündnerfleisch · James Lord, Giacometti: A Biography (1985) — on his Stampa/Paris trips
Alberto Giacometti · Charactorium