Roastbeef med Remoulade og Ristede Løg

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy oven-safe frying pan or cast-iron skillet
• •Meat thermometer
• •Mandoline for the onions
• •Deep heavy pan for frying
• •Very sharp slicing knife
• •Fine grater or microplane for the horseradish

Instructions

1. 1

   Sear the beef

   Pat the beef completely dry and season generously with salt and pepper on every surface. Heat the neutral oil in a heavy oven-safe pan over high heat until it just begins to shimmer. Lay the beef in and sear it hard on every side, including the ends, until you have built a deep mahogany crust all over. This takes about six minutes in total. Don't rush it and don't move the meat until each side has colored properly. The crust is where the flavor starts, and a pale roast will give you a pale slice on the bread.

   If the pan smokes heavily before the beef goes in, the oil is too hot. You want a steady shimmer, not a haze.
2. 2

   Roast to rare

   Drop the butter into the pan and slide the whole thing into an oven heated to 150C. Roast gently until a thermometer pushed into the thickest part reads 52C, about twenty minutes for a 500g piece. This is rare, and rare is what you want. Smorrebrod beef is sliced paper-thin and served cold, and anything more cooked than rare turns grey and dry in the fridge. Low and slow here, not high and fast, so the meat cooks evenly from edge to centre.

3. 3

   Rest and chill completely

   Lift the beef out of the pan and let it rest on a board for ten minutes so the juices settle back into the fibres. Then wrap it tightly in parchment or cling film and put it in the fridge for at least three hours, or overnight if you can. Slicing the beef thin is impossible while it is warm. Warm beef tears and shreds under the knife. Cold beef holds its shape and lets you shave it as fine as you like.

   Overnight is better than three hours. The meat firms up properly and the flavor deepens. This is a dish that rewards the joy of waiting.
4. 4

   Fry the ristede løg

   Separate the onion slices into rings and drop them into the milk. Let them soak for ten minutes. The milk softens their raw edge and helps the flour cling. Drain them, shake off the excess, and toss them through the flour seasoned with the teaspoon of salt until every ring is coated. Heat enough neutral oil in a deep heavy pan to submerge a handful of onions at a time, bringing it to 170C. Fry in small batches, stirring gently with a slotted spoon, until the rings turn the color of dark honey. Lift them onto kitchen paper. Take them out just before they look fully done. They crisp further as they cool, and onions pulled too late go bitter and dark.

5. 5

   Slice the beef paper-thin

   Unwrap the cold beef and set it on a board. Using your sharpest knife, slice it as thinly as you possibly can, going against the grain. You want slices so fine you can almost see through them. If the knife catches or tears the meat, it isn't sharp enough. Sharpen it before you continue. Blunt knives are the reason most home cooks give up on thin-sliced beef.

6. 6

   Build the smorrebrod

   Butter each slice of rugbrod thinly, right to the edges. The butter is a seal that keeps the bread from going soft under the remoulade. Spread a generous tablespoon of remoulade across the buttered surface. Fold the slices of beef loosely and lay them on top in overlapping piles, never flat. The air between the folds is what gives the piece its height and its softness in the mouth. Grate a snowfall of fresh horseradish over the beef. Crown each piece with a generous heap of ristede løg, enough that some fall onto the plate. Finish with a few sprigs of cress. Serve at once with a knife and a fork, and an aquavit if the moment calls for it.

   There is a grammar to smorrebrod. Butter, spread, meat, topping, garnish. The order is the architecture, and the architecture is the dish.

Chef Tips

• •Sirloin or topside both work well. Fillet is tender but has less of the deep beefy flavor you want against the sharpness of the horseradish and the sweetness of the remoulade. A well-marbled sirloin is the right answer most of the time.
• •Remoulade matters. If you can find a proper Danish brand like Beauvais or Graasten, use it. If you cannot, make your own by stirring a little mild curry powder, finely chopped pickled vegetables, and a pinch of sugar into good mayonnaise. Jarred remoulade from another tradition will taste wrong here.
• •Fresh horseradish is non-negotiable. The jarred kind has been bullied into submission by vinegar and preservatives, and it gives you heat without brightness. A fresh root, peeled and grated over the beef at the last moment, tastes of green pepper and cold air.
• •You can buy bagged ristede løg in any Danish supermarket, and many Danish cooks do. Home-fried onions are better, brighter, and crisper, but if you are pressed for time, a good bagged version is an honest shortcut.

Advance Preparation

• •The beef can be roasted a full day ahead. After it rests, wrap it tightly and refrigerate overnight. The flavor and texture both improve with the extra time.
• •Ristede løg can be fried a few hours ahead and kept at room temperature in a paper-lined container. Do not cover them or they will lose their crispness.
• •Slice the beef and assemble the smorrebrod only at serving time. Sliced beef left sitting on the bread goes dull, and remoulade that meets rugbrod too early will soften it from underneath.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 225g)