Tafelspitz Recipe – Viennese Boiled Fillet deliciously prepared

from Thomas Sixt
Hi, I am a German Chef and Food Photographer. The imparting of cooking knowledge is my great passion. Everyone can cook for himself and with this website I would like to contribute to its success. Cooking questions I answer you gladly at the end of the articles. Have fun and good luck!
Today I present you my Chef Tafelspitz Recipe. Tafelspitz which is boiled fillet is a classic of Austrian cuisine.
I would like to show you how the fine beef dish can be prepared in just a few steps.
You need a large pot, a kitchen board, a kitchen knife and a pan for cooking yourself. The soup with the boiled beef usually boils slightly flowing on the stove. The boiled beef is ready after about 2-2.5 hours.
In this article you will find all the answers to authentic traditional preparation. I wish you every success!
Table of Contents
1. Shopping List
Good ingredients are half the battle. What do you need for a fine boiled fillet? Please buy a piece of organic fillet.
Tafelspitz (without side dishes, without sauce):
- 800g boiled fillet of beef
- the boiled beef is the anterior tip of the tail of a cow or calf, which borders on the hip and runs out thinly.
- 3-5 marrow bones
- 1 bunch soup vegetables
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1-2 tomatoes
- 2 onions
- 1 bulb of fresh garlic (you only need 3 cloves)
- dry white wine
- salt, pepper, juniper berries, caraway, bay leaf, marjoram
2. How to cook a fine Tafelspitz – the Beginning
Now it starts at home:
- Take one large unpeeled onion or two medium-sized onions and halve them. Grab the pan and roast the unpeeled onion halves – without fat. The onion gives the broth a nice colour.
- Now you need a big high pot. Let the ingredients float. Here you boil 5 litres of water with some marrow bones, the fried onion and salt, pepper, garlic cloves, juniper berries, caraway, marjoram and bay leaves.
- Place the fillet of beef in this boiling broth, place the stove flame a little smaller so that nothing boils over. Let everything simmer for about 1 hour with the pot open.
- In the meantime you can clean the vegetables and cut them into rather coarse pieces. After one hour, add it to the boiling broth and cook for another hour.


3. When is the Meat ready cooked?
Pierce the boiled beef with a thin meat fork. When the meat yields slightly and no more red meat juice escapes, the boiled beef is cooked. You can now lift the boiled beef out of the soup and place it on a plate.
I pour the soup through a fine sieve. Technically it would be good to use a passing cloth. I would like to recommend the passing cloth as a purchase for your kitchen.
Passing cloth, caution, detergent: With a passing cloth you bring all turbid substances from the broth and you can use the passing cloth also for the fine sauce preparation. Do not wash the cloth with detergent but boil it in clear water with vinegar. Afterwards rinse the passing cloth with clear water and use it!
Please return the boiled beef to the clarified broth. This way it remains fine in its consistency.
4. Sauces for Boiled Fillet
The following cold sauces go well with Tafelspitz:
4.1 Chives Sauce
Put 200 g cream fraiche and 100 g sour cream in a bowl. Add the juice of half a lemon, season with salt and pepper and mix in the freshly chopped chives.
4.2 Cold Egg Sauce – Sauce Tartar
Put 200 g cream fraiche and 100 g sour cream in a bowl. Add the juice of half a lemon, season with salt and pepper and add two boiled and chopped eggs. Cut or chop the egg yolk and egg white extra finely so that you get an even result. The egg sauce can be optionally refined with chopped parsley, capers and pickled gherkins, then it is a sauce tatar.
4.3 Apple-Kren Sauce or Apple Horseradish Sauce
Wash and peel 2-4 apples depending on size. Grate them finely with a kitchen grater, season with lemon juice, salt and pepper and mix fresh horseradish or horseradish from the glass to taste.
4.4 Cream Horseradish Sauce
Put 200 g cream fraiche and 100 g sour cream in a bowl. Add the juice of half a lemon, season with salt and pepper and season to taste with freshly torn horseradish or horseradish from the glass.
5. The Tafelspitz Finale – Serve Tafelspitz
There are several ways to serve a freshly prepared boiled fillet.
- In Austria, Tafelspitz is often served with soup. The slices then remain warm and soup can be eaten with the meat according to taste.
- Serve finely cleaned and neatly chopped or tourned vegetables with Tafelspitz, which you cook in a little Tafelspitzsuppe until al dente. The fried onion is of course an eye-catcher, but is rarely put on the plate.

- Optionally, you can serve the boiled beef sliced open with side dishes on a flat plate. In the picture below you can see another typical Austrian way – sliced boiled beef with potatoes, vegetables and a cream spinach.

6. Recipe Tafelspitz
Tafelspitz is a fine classic of Austrian cuisine. Serve this main course as a family meal, so you can convince your guests! Good success, I am glad about your comment!
Tafelspitz Recipe
Tafelspitz recipe with Kochwiki and many chef tips for a fine, cooked beef. Prepare the original Wiener Tafelspitz like a professional chef.

Cousine
Keyword
Preparation Time
15 Min.
Cook Time
120 Min.
Ingredients
800 | g | Tafelspitz, Beef (hip or tip of the tail of the cow or calf ) |
2 | pc | onions |
3 | pc | cloves of garlic |
1 | bunch | soup vegetable |
100 | ml | white wine |
4-6 | liter | Water |
1 | tbs | Salt |
some | Pepper | |
1 | tsp | Caraway |
1 | tsp | juniper berries |
1 | tsp. | majoram |
5 | pc | Bay leaf |
1 | bunch | Parsley |
4 | pc | marrow bones |
Instruction
Let the butcher prepare the boiled boiled beef finely cleaned. Wash the meat at home and pat dry.
Cut the onion in half and fry in a pan without fat until dark. Peel and prepare the garlic.
Wash the soup vegetables consisting of carrots, celery, parsley roots and leek. Peel and chop the root vegetables and cut the leek into leaves.
Boil the onion and garlic in a large, high pot with 5 litres of water and the wine. Add 1 tablespoon salt, 2 Msp. pepper, 1 teaspoon caraway, juniper berries, marjoram and 2 bay leaves.
Slide the meat into the boiling broth. Cook for 1 hour.
Let the boiled beef simmer gently, remove the foam that forms on the surface later with a ladle, the protein binds the turbidity substances in the soup.
Add the prepared soup vegetables and the parsley whole.
Cook the boiled beef for about 90-120 minutes until soft. Then remove from the soup, cut open and serve with the soup vegetables or the desired side dishes.
Video
You can also prepare this dish with a boiled beef from the calf. Alternatively you can use the breast of veal.
If you should ever come to Vienna, make a reservation and visit the Restaurant Plachutta. There you will be served boiled beef of exceptional quality and various pieces of cooked meat classically served in copper dishes.
7. Calories and nutritional values
The nutritional values are calculated for Tafelspitz without side dishes.
8. Tafelspitz Side Dishes
Rich with Tafelspitz classic side dishes such as cream spinach, Rösti and parsley potatoes.
The sauces presented in the article have proven to be a great addition. In Germany, Tafelspitz is sometimes served with Hollandaise sauce. I personally prefer the classic Viennese side dishes.
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