For the launch of the new Imperial Caviar website, I asked some dear food blog colleagues for their recipe ideas around Imperial Caviar. Great ideas and dishes have emerged(here in the overview).
And of course I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to present a dish myself. I have dared for a somewhat simplified version of a classic from the Sonnora: The legendary beef fillet cake with caviar from Helmut Thieltges.
Probably no other dish handles the product caviar so lavishly and extravagantly. The base of tender, slightly lighter-than-usual seasoned tartare and the hot, crispy hash browns provide a perfect bed for the caviar. In combination with the crème fraîche, the aroma can develop even better. At the same time, the slightly salty caviar balances out the rather restrained seasoning of the tartare.
The interplay of the different textures and temperatures gives it an extra kick: hot, crispy hash browns, the slightly cool tartare, the even slightly colder caviar on top…. Perfect!While researching the classic recipe, I came across numerous variations. In particular, the incorporation of crème fraîche or crème double varies greatly and has changed considerably over the years. In most of the newer variants, it is used as an additional layer between caviar and tartar. This is also how Clemens Rambichler, the successor to Helmut Thieltges, who died in 2017, now implements it at Sonnora.
For my “at home” version of this classic, I used an old recipe from 1999 as a base, but reduced its complexity a bit. Because, in principle, all the basic ingredients almost speak for themselves. Only the tartar and the rösti undergo processing in the process.
I fried the hash browns in a round cookie cutter and layered the tartar and caviar in an identical cutter earlier. As soon as the Röstis are crispy cooked through, these come first on the plate, on it then Tatar and caviar.
Ingredients (for 4 people)
300g fillet of beef
2 shallots
50 capers
3 egg yolk
200g double cream
125g Imperial Caviar Auslese
2 large potatoes
Salt, pepper, nutmeg
Preparation
Cut the fillet of beef into tartar by hand, never put it through a meat grinder, the result would be much too fine. Mix with the finely chopped shallots, parsley and capers and the egg yolk and season with (a little!) salt and pepper.
Now shape the tartar into the desired form or fill it into serving rings. Optionally, place a layer of crème fraîche on top of the tartare and then carefully (and not too scantily) place the caviar on top. First chill again.
Now grate the potatoes and wring them out through a kitchen towel. Season the mixture with salt, pepper and nutmeg. In a hot pan, now pour the roast mixture into a serving ring of the same size about one centimeter high and fry. Carefully remove the serving ring before turning.
Now place the crispy and hot hash browns on a plate and carefully place the tartar and caviar on top and arrange more crème fraîche on the plate.
