flipEmpress's Boiled Beef with Water Vegetables
Empress's Boiled Beef with Water Vegetables
Why this dish? Contemporaries marveled at Catherine's frugality: while her court teemed with splendor, she herself loved simple boiled beef, water vegetables, and fruit. This dish embodies her private table, the opposite of the banquets she gave.
A piece of beef long-poached in a broth fragrant with aromatics, served with vegetables cooked in the same stock and a bit of salted pickle. The secret is slowness: meltingly tender meat and a clear broth drunk separately.
They marvel at my table to see me prefer boiled beef to the stews my French cooks take such art to compose. What can I say: I govern an empire all day, I have no leisure to govern my stomach as well. So cook your meat very gently, skim it carefully, and add your roots and a brine cucumber; you will have enough to feed a philosopher without weighing him down. I have seen courtiers yawn before mountains of game — I, I rise from table with my mind as sharp as before.
- •Piece of beef (shin or chuck) — a good piece (meat to poach)
- •Onion, parsley root, carrot, turnip — according to the pot (aromatics and vegetables)
- •Bay leaf, peppercorns — a pinch (broth flavor)
- •Salted cucumbers (barrel) — a few (tangy garnish)
- •Coarse salt — by hand (seasoning)
Empress's Boiled Beef with Water Vegetables
A piece of beef long-poached in a broth fragrant with aromatics, served with vegetables cooked in the same stock and a bit of salted pickle. The secret is slowness: meltingly tender meat and a clear broth drunk separately.
Why this dish? Contemporaries marveled at Catherine's frugality: while her court teemed with splendor, she herself loved simple boiled beef, water vegetables, and fruit. This dish embodies her private table, the opposite of the banquets she gave.
They marvel at my table to see me prefer boiled beef to the stews my French cooks take such art to compose. What can I say: I govern an empire all day, I have no leisure to govern my stomach as well. So cook your meat very gently, skim it carefully, and add your roots and a brine cucumber; you will have enough to feed a philosopher without weighing him down. I have seen courtiers yawn before mountains of game — I, I rise from table with my mind as sharp as before.
Ingredients (period version)
- Piece of beef (shin or chuck) — a good piece (meat to poach)
- Onion, parsley root, carrot, turnip — according to the pot (aromatics and vegetables)
- Bay leaf, peppercorns — a pinch (broth flavor)
- Salted cucumbers (barrel) — a few (tangy garnish)
- Coarse salt — by hand (seasoning)
Ingredients
- Beef shin or chuck — 1 kg (meat to poach)
- Carrots — 3 (broth vegetable)
- Turnips — 2 (broth vegetable)
- Leek and onion — 1 each (aromatic)
- Bay leaf + peppercorns — 1 leaf, 6 grains (flavor)
- Russian pickles (malossol) — 4 (tangy garnish)
- Coarse salt — 1 tbsp (seasoning)
Method
- Put the beef in a large pot of cold water, bring gently to a simmer and carefully skim off the gray foam.
- Add onion, leek, bay leaf and pepper; poach at a very gentle simmer for 2.5 to 3 hours.
- Add carrots and turnips in large chunks during the last hour, so they cook in the broth.
- Salt at the end of cooking. Slice the meat, arrange with vegetables and pickles.
- Serve the clear broth separately, in a cup, as a first course.
How it was made : Long poaching was the queen of Russian pot cooking, where from a single piece one drew a broth (the base for shchi) and a meat. Barrel-salted cucumbers and cabbage replaced fresh vegetables during winter.
The contemporary twist : Serve the broth in a cup as an amuse-bouche, a 'Catherine consommé', before attacking the meat — a nod to her two-part table.
Sources : Memoirs of Catherine II · W. Pokhlebkin, A History of Russian Cuisine (Национальные кухни наших народов)
Catherine II of Russia · Charactorium
