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The name borrows a little French theatre and a little Belgian history, but the sandwich is pure Dutch lunchroom: raw spiced beef, soft bread, egg, onion, pickle, no flinching.
The name already tells you this sandwich has been travelling under a borrowed coat. Filet americain sounds as if it should arrive with jazz, chrome, and a New York appetite, but in the Dutch lunchroom it sits quietly between cheese and kroketten, spread thick on a soft broodje, a small white roll, with egg, onion, and augurk, pickle. Very Dutch, for obvious reasons: we took the dramatic name and turned it into lunch.
But let me tell you a secret. The surprise is not that the beef is raw. Northern Europe has never been shy about preservation, curing, salting, chopping, and eating meat close to its source. The surprise is the texture. Dutch filet americain is not steak tartare in evening dress; it is finer, softer, seasoned all the way through, almost a spread. That is why the beef must be lean, cold, and freshly chopped, and why the sauce must season rather than drown it. If the meat is poor, the sandwich has nowhere to hide.
Hou het altijd simpel, always keep it simple. Buy a piece of lean beef from a butcher you trust, keep everything cold, chop it fine, season it cleanly, and eat it the day it is made. The onion brings sharpness, the egg gives calm richness, and the pickle cuts through with vinegar. History and cookery, they cannot be separated, but neither should they keep you from lunch.
Filet americain belongs to the Belgian and Dutch family of raw chopped beef dishes that developed from nineteenth-century steak tartare and French restaurant service. Belgian chef Joseph Niels is often credited with formalising filet americain prepare at Restaurant Canterbury in Brussels in 1926, seasoning raw beef into a ready-to-eat preparation rather than serving the seasonings separately. In the Netherlands the dish became a butcher-shop and lunchroom staple after the Second World War, smoother and more spreadable than tartare, usually eaten on a soft roll with boiled egg, raw onion, and pickle.
Quantity
350g
trimmed of all sinew
Quantity
2 tablespoons
Quantity
1 tablespoon
Quantity
1 teaspoon
Quantity
1 teaspoon
Quantity
1 teaspoon
rinsed and very finely chopped
Quantity
1 teaspoon
Quantity
1 small pinch
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste
Quantity
to taste
freshly ground
Quantity
4
split
Quantity
2
sliced
Quantity
1 small
very finely diced
Quantity
4 small
sliced lengthwise
Quantity
as needed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| very fresh lean beeftrimmed of all sinew | 350g |
| mayonnaise | 2 tablespoons |
| tomato ketchup | 1 tablespoon |
| Dijon mustard | 1 teaspoon |
| Worcestershire sauce | 1 teaspoon |
| capersrinsed and very finely chopped | 1 teaspoon |
| sweet paprika | 1 teaspoon |
| cayenne pepper | 1 small pinch |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| black pepperfreshly ground | to taste |
| soft white rolls (broodjes)split | 4 |
| hard-boiled eggssliced | 2 |
| white onionvery finely diced | 1 small |
| pickles (augurken)sliced lengthwise | 4 small |
| soft butter (optional) | as needed |
Put the trimmed beef in the freezer for 15 minutes, just until firm at the edges but not frozen. Cold beef cuts cleanly and stays clean-tasting; warm beef smears, and a raw sandwich forgives less than a stew.
Slice the chilled beef thinly, then cut the slices into narrow strips and chop across them with a sharp knife until the texture is very fine but still alive, not paste. If using a grinder, pass it once through the fine plate into a cold bowl. Keep the bowl over ice if your kitchen is warm.
Stir together the mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, chopped capers, paprika, cayenne, salt, and a few turns of black pepper. Fold in the chopped beef until the seasoning is even and the mixture looks rosy-orange and glossy. Taste a tiny amount and adjust salt, mustard, or pepper; the flavour should be bright, savoury, and gently sharp, not sweet.
Butter the split rolls lightly if you like, then spread each one generously with filet americain. Lay sliced hard-boiled egg over the beef, scatter with finely diced onion, and tuck in the sliced augurken, pickles. Close the rolls only loosely. This is a sandwich that wants to show its face.
Serve immediately, while the beef is still cool and the onion still sharp. If the sandwiches must wait, keep the filet americain covered in the refrigerator and assemble at the last minute. Bread is patient. Raw beef is not.
1 serving (about 250g)
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