17 april 2023
The perfect Carpaccio!
Carpaccio
Carpaccio is defined as raw meat or fish thinly sliced or pureed and served as an appetizer or lunch option. Giuseppe Cipriani, founder of Harry's Bar in Venice, created the first beef carpaccio for Countess Amalia Nani Mocenigo in 1950 when he discovered she couldn't eat cooked meat. The name was inspired by the paintings of Vittore Carpaccio, a famous Venetian painter whose paintings were often in shades of red and white that resembled the carpaccio. This dish is now world famous.
Harry's Bar's original carpaccio is still made the same way, which is by covering a plate with wafer-thin slices of raw beef and then garnishing it with a drizzle of secret dressing. While the carpaccio served at Harry's Bar is extremely simple, the dish is now made in various ways outside of Venice.
Slicing Carpaccio with a meat slicer
Tell your butcher what you are using the meat for, so that you can get the right cut of meat recommended. This ensures that the meat is of the right quality and structure.
Nowadays there are all kinds of different versions of the carpaccio. Nowadays there are also fish and beet carpaccio’s.
The best advice to start preparing carpaccio is to first prepare a few for yourself, put them on the plate and season them to get a good idea of how thin the slices should be.
The meat or fish is cut into large, thin slices. Preferably a few slices per plate.
Restaurants often use electric slicers like those at the deli and butcher to cut the meat or fish for the carpaccio. You can contact us for these meat slicers!
Different variations
Classic Carpaccio:
Which garnish you put on the carpaccio is of course dependent on taste. That is why we have listed a number of variations on the classic carpaccio.
The quantities of the ingredients are based on 4 people.
Ingredients:
⦁ ½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
⦁ 3 tbsp olive oil truffle aroma
⦁ 250g carpaccio
⦁ 30 g arugula
⦁ 50 g Parmesan cheese
⦁ 30 g pine nuts
Heat a frying pan without oil or butter and roast the pine nuts for 3 minutes until golden brown. Mix the vinegar, oil, pepper and possibly salt into a dressing.
Divide the slices of carpaccio side by side over plates and drizzle with the dressing. Coarsely chop the arugula and divide over the carpaccio.
Grate the Parmesan cheese on top with a peeler. Sprinkle the pine nuts all over.
Carpaccio & lemon mayonaise:
Ingredients:
⦁ 200g carpaccio
⦁ 50 gr arugula
⦁ 100 gr sun-dried tomatoes
⦁ 1 lemon
⦁ 3 tbsp mayonnaise
⦁ 2 tbsp walnuts, coarsely chopped
⦁ 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese chips
Grate the lemon and squeeze half of the lemon. Mix the lemon juice and zest with the mayonnaise. Divide the roast beef over 4 plates.
Place a handful of arugula in the center. Scatter the sun-dried tomatoes on top. Sprinkle with the lemon mayonnaise and sprinkle with the walnuts and Parmesan cheese.
Carpaccio & salad:
Ingredients:
⦁ 250g carpaccio
⦁ 30 g pine nuts
⦁ ½ lemon
⦁ 2 tbsp mayonnaise
⦁ ½ tbsp olive oil
⦁ 40 g Parmesan cheese
⦁ 40 g mixed salad
⦁ 10 g fresh basil
Roast the pine nuts in the same way as with the 1st variation in 3 minutes until golden brown. Let cool on a plate.
Grate the zest of the lemon and squeeze it. Mix the mayonnaise with the lemon zest, lemon juice and oil into a dressing. Season with pepper and possibly salt.
Drizzle the carpaccio with the dressing. Shave the Parmesan cheese over it with a slicer. Mix the mixed salad with the basil leaves and place the lettuce in the center of the carpaccio. Finally, sprinkle with the pine nuts.
Beetroot Carpaccio:
A very nice and tasty vegetarian alternative to carpaccio is a beetroot carpaccio. You can prepare this beet carpaccio as follows.
Peel the beets while they are still warm and let them cool (ideally overnight). Cut into thin slices using a slicer and place on separate plates in a circle.
Spoon a dressing of lemon juice, olive oil and truffle mayonnaise over the beets. Garnish with aged cheese, cut into squares or simply crumbled by hand, and finally some mixed salad.
Give it a try and you will be surprised how delicious this alternative is.