Sailor’s beef – beer week #4

Sailor’s beef was first documented in Sweden at the beginning of the 19th century. It is an easy course to make and that is the reason why it was possible to make it at sea.

Sailor’s beef

• 8-10 Potatoes, peeled and sliced into 0,5 cm slices
• 600 g Beef Roulade, cut in 10 cm pieces
• 2 large Onions, sliced
• 1-2 dl Water
• 3 dl Beer
• 1 beef Stock cube
• Butter
• 1-2 Bay leaves
• Salt
• Pepper
• Parsley, chopped
• Pickled gherkin, sliced lengthwise

Peel and slice the potatoes, fry the onion rings in butter in a pan – not to hard only so that they get soft. Fry the meat in the pan until it has colour, add salt and pepper to the meat.

Use a cast iron pot and make 2-3 layers of potatoes, onion and meat. Pour the water in to the recently used pan and whisk out the flavours from frying onion and meat. Pour the fluid in the pot together with the beer. Add bay leaves.

Let come to a boil and let simmer until the meat is tender, approximately 1 hour.

Serve with chopped parsley and sliced pickled gherkin. Enjoy!

Korean beef with udon nudles

It is getting colder and colder outside and the need for something warm to eat increases. Why not add spicy as well…

• 400 g fresh Udon nudles
• 600 g Beef
• 1 large Choi cabbage
• 4 Spring onions
• 1 Red Onion
• 1 Carrot
• 4 Eggs
• 1 Lime fruit
• fresh Coriander

Broth

• 1 l Chicken broth
• 2 Chili fruits
• 2 Lemon grass
• fresh Ginger
• 1-2 Garlic cloves
• 2-3 Kaffir lime leaves
• 33 cl Japanese beer

Start with the broth. Boil water with chicken broth and beer, add pieces of chilifruit, lemon grass, ginger, garlic and kaffir lime leaves. Let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. Strain away the spices. Cut and shred the vegetables.

Fry the meat shortly in oil so that it gets a nice colour. Cook the udon nudles according to the manufacturer.

Put the udon nudles in 4 bowls, pour the reheated broth over them and crack an egg in each bowl. Add the vegetables, slice the meat in thin slices and put them on top. Decorate with coriander, chopped cashew nuts and lime.

Serve together with Kimchi salad.

If you want a vegetarian dish simply exchange the beef for tofu and the chicken broth with vegetable broth.

Music: An old classic with Spice Girls – Spice up your world

We’re making meatballs

Meatballs with mashed potatoes, cream sauce, pressed and pickled cucumber and lingonberry jam was served to us by our grandmothers and mothers. And I guess it will always be a favorite. Forget the ones from IKEA. This is the real thing!

Meatballs

• 500 g minced Beef
• 2 Egg
• 1 tbsp Mustard
• 1 bread Roll, only the content (or other fresh white bread)
• 0,5-1 decilitre Milk or Cream
• 1 Onion, finely chopped
• 5-6 Cloves
• 5-6 Pimentos
• Salt
• Black pepper

Blend everything together, crush the pimento and the clove in a mortar, let the mixture draw for a few minutes. Form the meatballs with wet hands and fry them in a pan with butter.

Mashed potatoes

• 8-10 Potatoes
• 1 decilitre Yoghurt
• 1-2 decilitre Milk
• a knob of Butter
• Nutmeg
• Salt
• Black pepper

Boil the potatoes, when they’re done pull out the water and mash the potatoes. Use an electric mixer, add a knob of butter, nutmeg and yoghurt and mix. Gradually add the milk until you get preferred consistency. Spice it with salt and black pepper.

Pressed and pickled cucumber

• 1 Cucumber
• 1-2 teaspoons Salt
• 1 decilitre Water
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 2 tbsp Vinegar essence
• Parsley

Slice the cucumber thinly, put it in a bowl with the salt. Put a lid (or a plate) on top of the cucumbers and add a weight to press it down. Leave it for 30 minutes. Blend water, sugar and vinegar essence.

Pour out the water from the pressed cucumber and put the cucumber in a glass jar, add chopped parsley and pour the fluid into the jar. Leave it in the fridge for a couple of hours before you eat it.

Brown sauce

• Cream
• Beef broth
• Soy sauce
• Sauce thickener
• Salt
• Black pepper

Make the sauce in the pan where you fried the meatballs without washing it in between. Add the ingredients depending of your own taste, you can of course exchange the cream for milk. Stir everything until you have a nice consistency and a tasty sauce.

The lingonberry jam is bought in Sweden and not homemade.

Music: CEO – the swede Eric Berglund – and his latest record White Magic.