Chef Klaus
Ahle Wurst
North Hesse's old sausage is cured, not cooked: coarse pork, pepper, garlic, and cold weeks in a chamber until the slice turns firm enough for rye and cider.
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Tafelspitz mit Grüner Soße
Created by
Boiled beef only works when the pot stays gentle: clear broth, tender slices, and Frankfurt Grüne Soße doing what gravy would usually do.
Main Dishes
German
Special Occasion
Easter
Make Ahead
45 min
Active Time
2 hr 45 min cook•3 hr 30 min total
Yield6 servings
Tafelspitz mit Grüner Soße sits between Frankfurt and Vienna, and that is already an argument. Vienna serves its boiled beef with apple horseradish, spinach, and roasted potatoes; Hesse brings the cold seven-herb Grüne Soße, especially in spring around Easter, when the herbs come back sharp and green. Im Norden anders, im Süden anders. This plate belongs to Frankfurt when the sauce is on it.
I cook the beef like a broth first and a roast second. The meat goes into barely moving water with bones and roots, because a hard boil tightens the fibres, clouds the broth, and leaves you with dry slices sitting in dirty liquid. Runter mit der Temperatur. A tremble in the pot is enough. Das braucht seine Zeit.
The sauce is not from a jar, and it is not a blender punishment. Nicht aus dem Glas. Chop the seven herbs fine by hand or pulse them briefly, then fold them into sour cream, quark, mustard, vinegar, and chopped egg. The egg gives body, the acid wakes the herbs, and the cold sauce cuts through the beef better than a heavy gravy would.
Serve the broth first if you like, then the sliced Tafelspitz with potatoes and the green sauce alongside. Weggeworfen wird nichts: bones, trim, and cooking liquor are part of the meal, not waste.
Tafelspitz is most closely tied to the Viennese table of the nineteenth century, where boiled beef became a prestige dish under Emperor Franz Joseph I, who was known for eating it simply and often. Frankfurt Grüne Soße follows a different record: the seven-herb mixture from the market gardens around Oberrad and the Main was registered in the European Union as a protected geographical indication in 2016 under the names Frankfurter Grüne Soße and Frankfurter Grie Soß. The pairing puts two traditions on one plate, Austrian boiled beef technique and Hessian spring herb sauce, and the sauce is what moves the dish firmly onto the Frankfurt table.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Tafelspitz or beef rump cap
Quantity
1.6kg
fat cap left on
beef bones
Quantity
500g
marrow or knuckle bones preferred
onions
Quantity
2
halved, unpeeled
carrots
Quantity
2
cut into large pieces
leek
Quantity
1 small
washed and cut into large pieces
celeriac
Quantity
150g
peeled and cut into chunks
parsley root or parsnip
Quantity
1
cut into large pieces
bay leaves
Quantity
2
black peppercorns
Quantity
8
juniper berries
Quantity
4
lightly crushed
salt
Quantity
2 teaspoons, plus more to taste
waxy potatoes
Quantity
1.2kg
eggs
Quantity
4 large
sour cream
Quantity
200g
quark or thick Greek-style yogurt
Quantity
200g
mayonnaise
Quantity
100g
medium German mustard
Quantity
1 tablespoon
white wine vinegar
Quantity
2 tablespoons
sugar
Quantity
1 teaspoon
parsley
Quantity
1 bunch
chives
Quantity
1 bunch
chervil
Quantity
1 bunch
cress
Quantity
1 bunch
sorrel
Quantity
1 bunch
borage
Quantity
1 small bunch
salad burnet (Pimpinelle)
Quantity
1 small bunch
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Tafelspitz or beef rump capfat cap left on | 1.6kg |
| beef bonesmarrow or knuckle bones preferred | 500g |
| onionshalved, unpeeled | 2 |
| carrotscut into large pieces | 2 |
| leekwashed and cut into large pieces | 1 small |
| celeriacpeeled and cut into chunks | 150g |
| parsley root or parsnipcut into large pieces | 1 |
| bay leaves | 2 |
| black peppercorns | 8 |
| juniper berrieslightly crushed | 4 |
| salt | 2 teaspoons, plus more to taste |
| waxy potatoes | 1.2kg |
| eggs | 4 large |
| sour cream | 200g |
| quark or thick Greek-style yogurt | 200g |
| mayonnaise | 100g |
| medium German mustard | 1 tablespoon |
| white wine vinegar | 2 tablespoons |
| sugar | 1 teaspoon |
| parsley | 1 bunch |
| chives | 1 bunch |
| chervil | 1 bunch |
| cress | 1 bunch |
| sorrel | 1 bunch |
| borage | 1 small bunch |
| salad burnet (Pimpinelle) | 1 small bunch |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •Large stockpot, 6 to 8 litres
- •Fine sieve
- •Sharp slicing knife
- •Mixing bowl for the sauce
Instructions
- 1
Start the broth
Put the bones in a large pot with 3 litres cold water and bring it up slowly. Skim the grey foam as it rises, because that foam clouds the broth and dulls the clean beef flavour. Add the onions, carrots, leek, celeriac, parsley root, bay leaves, peppercorns, juniper, and salt, then bring the pot back to a quiet tremble.
Leave the onion skins on. They give the broth a pale gold colour, and Weggeworfen wird nichts when the peel can still do work. - 2
Poach the beef
Lower the Tafelspitz into the barely simmering broth, fat cap facing up, and keep the liquid below a boil for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. A rolling boil tightens the meat and throws albumen through the broth; gentle heat lets the collagen soften while the slices stay moist. Runter mit der Temperatur. The beef is ready when a skewer slides in with little resistance.
- 3
Cook the potatoes
About 35 minutes before serving, boil the potatoes in salted water until a knife slips through the centre. Use waxy potatoes because they hold their edges beside the sauce; floury potatoes are for Knödel, dumplings, not for this plate. Drain them and keep them warm in their skins so they don't drink up water and turn slack.
- 4
Boil the eggs
Boil the eggs for 9 to 10 minutes, then cool them in cold water and peel them. Chop two eggs fine for the sauce and cut the other two into wedges for serving. The chopped egg thickens the cold sauce without flour, and the wedges tell you at the table what kind of sauce this is.
- 5
Make green sauce
Wash the seven herbs and dry them well, because wet herbs make a thin sauce that tastes washed out. Chop them very fine, or pulse them briefly, then fold them into the sour cream, quark, mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, sugar, chopped egg, salt, and pepper. Do not run it smooth like baby food. Grüne Soße should be green, cold, and flecked with herbs, not a jarred paste.
- 6
Rest and slice
Lift the beef from the broth and rest it 10 minutes under a loose cover. Resting lets the juices settle back into the fibres; cut straight from the pot and they run onto the board. Slice across the grain into finger-thick slices, because long fibres chew tough no matter how well you cooked them.
- 7
Serve the table
Strain the broth and taste it for salt, then serve some in small cups or ladle a little around the beef. Peel the potatoes, slice the Tafelspitz, and spoon the cold Grüne Soße beside the meat, not over the whole plate, so the beef stays clear and the sauce stays bright. Würzen, Fett, Salz zum Schluss: final salt on the broth, final pepper on the sauce, then eat.
Chef Tips
- •Buy Tafelspitz with the fat cap still attached. The fat protects the lean meat during the long poach and gives the broth flavour; trimmed lean beef dries out and then everyone blames the dish.
- •The correct Frankfurt herb mix is seven herbs: parsley, chives, chervil, cress, sorrel, borage, and salad burnet, called Pimpinelle. If you can't find all seven, keep parsley, chives, cress, and sorrel, but don't pretend dried herbs will do the same work.
- •Keep the pot below a boil. This is the dish's whole technique. Boil it hard and you get cloudy broth and tight beef; hold it gentle and the same cheap patience gives you clean soup and tender slices.
- •Serve the broth. It is not a by-product. Strained, salted, and set down before the beef, it is the first course and proof that you didn't waste the bones.
Advance Preparation
- •The Grüne Soße can be made 4 to 8 hours ahead and kept cold; the herbs settle into the dairy, but by the next day the green dulls and the sauce loses its spring edge.
- •The beef can be poached a day ahead and cooled in its strained broth. Reheat it gently in the broth before slicing, because dry reheating tightens the meat you worked to soften.
- •Boil the eggs and wash the herbs the day before. Dry the herbs well and wrap them in a cloth in the refrigerator, because wet herbs bruise and make a watery sauce.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 620g)
Calories
1060 calories
Total Fat
63 g
Saturated Fat
23 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
38 g
Cholesterol
320 mg
Sodium
1250 mg
Total Carbohydrates
56 g
Dietary Fiber
9 g
Sugars
11 g
Protein
67 g
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