Nilagang Baka vs. Tafelspitz
On the left is Nilagang Baka from @pinoybestfood and the image on the right is from the Plachutta: Viennese Cuisine recipe book.
When I was growing up, Nilagang Baka or Filipino Boiled Beef was a staple in my household – and it still is. It's one of my family's favorite dishes especially when the monsoon season comes in and gulping down hot, clear, savory beef soup after a long and rainy day would somehow melt all the troubles away. My daughter Liza and I prefer eating it with an accompanying dipping sauce of kalamansi (Filipino lime) and patis (fish sauce) on the side. Even if this dish includes potatoes, Filipinos eat this with hot steaming rice on their plate … or bowl, whichever you prefer. In my family, there is a proper sequence in eating this dish. We begin by drowning the rice in the soup then spoon the meat and/or vegetables along with the soup-rice, dabbing some of the dipping sauce into it before finally landing in our mouths, and savoring every single bite. When I was a kid, I even mash the potatoes in my soup-rice giving it more flavor and texture. I admit that I still do this sometimes. It may not sound appetizing but trust me when I say that most Filipinos were brought up eating Nilagang Baka just like this, in one way or another.
Almost every Filipino household has its way of cooking nilagang baka. Through the years, I've encountered ingredients added in such as corn on the cob, bananas (saba), carrots, celery and the like. What I prefer, however, is the traditional recipe that makes use of time-honored ingredients, although the inclusion of other soup fillers does add more flavor and contrast to the simple dish. This particular recipe from salu-salo.com, is very similar to how my mom would cook her nilagang baka.
Nilagang Baka
By: Liza Agbanlog of Salu-Salo Recipes
Approximately 4 servings
Ingredients:
2 lbs bone-in beef shank, beef short ribs or beef brisket, cut into serving pieces
2 medium onions, peeled and halved
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp whole peppercorns
5 medium-size yellow potatoes, peeled and quartered
1 medium green cabbage, quartered and cored
4 pieces ripe saba or plantain banana, peeled and cut in half (optional)
Fish sauce or salt to taste
Instructions
1. Put beef in a big pot and add enough water to cover it. Bring to a boil over high heat. Skim off the scum that rises to the surface.
2. Add onion, salt, and peppercorns. Reduce heat to medium, cover and let simmer for 2 hours or until meat is fork tender. Add more water as needed.
3. Increase heat to medium-high. Add potatoes and cabbage and cook for 10 minutes. Add plantain banana, if using, for another 5 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.
4. Correct seasonings using fish sauce or salt. Serve hot with steamed rice and fish sauce or (lemon) kalamansi on the side
You may also add in carrots and pechay (Chinese cabbage) to your liking.
Also made from boiled beef, Tafelspitz is another classic Viennese specialty next to the Wiener Schnitzel. Essentially, Tafelspitz is simmered beef along with mixed spices and root vegetables in clear broth. Fit for a king, this was Kaiser Franz Joseph's favorite dish and would constantly be served throughout his reign during the Habsburg Dynasty. The way it's eaten however, is very different from the way Filipinos eat their boiled beef dish. This one-pot dish would be served family-style on the table much like a two-course meal. First, the soup is scooped out of the deep pot and served to the individuals on the table. After the soup is consumed, slices of beef such as the high-quality leg or shoulder cuts are served on each plate with chive sauce and apple-horseradish sauce. Its main accompaniment would be buttered bread.
In my opinion, the best place to eat the traditional Tafelspitz is in Plachutta. This restaurant is known for traditional Viennese cuisine with the Tafelspitz as its piece de resistance. Here, Tafelspitz is accompanied by 4 different sauces of your choosing namely the Plachutta's Apple-Horseradish Sauce, Apple-Horseradish Sauce with Raw Apples, Chive Sauce and Breadcrumb-Horseradish Sauce. The recipe and tips below are from the Plachutta: Viennese Cuisine recipe book that my classmate Georg and his partner Connie gifted Alex and me after dining in Vienna on our second night.
Tafelspitz
Approximately 6 servings
Cooking time: Approximately 3-3.5 hours.
Ingredients:
1 onion with skin, halved
Approx. 2 kg cap of rump
10-15 black peppercorns
250g root vegetables, peeled (equal amounts of carrots, yellow carrots, celeriac or celery and parsley root)
½ leek halved and washed
Granulated bouillon, as needed
Salt
Thinly sliced chives for garnish
Soup filler of your choice
Instructions:
1. In a pan lined with aluminum foil, brown the skinned onion halves on their cut sides without oil until very dark brown. Wash meat briefly with lukewarm water and drain.
2. Bring 3.5 liters of water to a boil, add beef and cook at a low simmer, skimming off any foam that accumulates. Add peppercorns and onion and season mildly with salt.
3. About 25 minutes before the meat is scheduled to be done, add root vegetables, leek and if desired, granulated bouillon. Remove cooked meat from the broth and cut into finger-thick slices.
4. Arrange the meat on a platter and sprinkle with salt and chives. Strain broth and season to taste with salt. Slice root vegetables, cut leek into small pieces, and return vegetables and meat into the soup and sprinkle with chives.
5. At the table, first serve the soup along with the vegetables and leek, adding the soup filler of your choice. Serve the Tafelspitz as the second course.
Aside from its accompanying sauces mentioned above, one can also eat the Tafelspitz with French beans with dill, romaine lettuce with peas, Viennese-style cabbage or squash with dill.
Tafelspitz makes use of the rump cap portion of the cow that is known to the king of boiled beef and is the most expensive cut one can purchase according to the recipe book. The image is from Plachutta: Viennese Cuisine.
Tips:
Five minutes before the end of the cooking time, add 4 blanched slices of marrowbone to the soup; serve the soup with roasted black bread, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve the soup, vegetables, and slices meat right in the pan. This way, the meat remains juicy and hot. This same method of preparation can be used for any other cut of beef that is suitable for boiling, such as rump with cap, and tail, eye or round, shoulder blade, shoulder blade cap or silverside.
A dear classmate from the Volksschule, Georg and his partner Connie with Alex and I after an indulgent meal at the Plachutta.
The Philippine's Nilagang Baka and Austria's Tafelspitz represent the uniqueness of the countries they belong to. Both are made from quality beef simmered to perfection, decisively delicious, home-cooked meals that bring about the feeling of comfort and satisfaction to anyone whose mouth it touches. I've savored both, and there is no contest – each is delicious in their own special way. It goes to show that regardless of how different we are as a people; it's the food that continues to unite and connect us all. Whether Filipino or Viennese, we all come together come together and enjoy the sumptuous and delicious food.
