Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 1 3/4 lbs. boned leg of beef
- 1/2 lb. boned lamb
- 2 Jewish-style herring fillets
- 1 ounce Ortiz brand anchovy
- 1 ounce Abba brand Swedish anchovy (if unavailable, use regular Ortiz brand anchovies, but try and find the real deal)
- 2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored
- 2 medium onions
- 2 shallots
- 1/8 cup tomato paste
- 3 whole garlic cloves
- 3 garlic cloves, pressed
- White pepper, freshly-ground
- Black pepper, freshly-ground
- 3 allspice berries, freshly-ground
- Salt to taste (be very light with the salt)
- Beef stock
- Cognac
- ***
- For garnish:
- Pickled beet, cubed
- Sour pickled, cubed
- Smetana (preferred) or Daisy brand sour cream
- Baked or mashed potatoes
Instructions
- Take off all the fat from the beef and lamb and cut into medium-sized pieces. Peel the onions and shallots and cut them into 4 pieces each.
- Put a little vegetable oil on a baking sheet, put the meat, 3 of the garlic cloves, shallots and onions on the pan. Sprinkle with oil.
- Bake in a 375 degree F oven until slightly brown, turn over once so that the browning is equal on all sides. When ready, take the pan from the oven and let cool.
- In a food processor, place some pieces of baked meat, garlic and onions and spoon in some beef stock. Process well and when smooth, empty the bowl into a heavy cast iron Dutch oven. Process the rest of the meat, garlic and onions.
- Then, add herring fillets, anchovies, sour apples, tomato paste and fresh garlic to the food processor. Moisten with more stock; so the food processor can work well. Process in the same way as the meats until smooth. Combine the fish mixture thoroughly with the meat and onion mixture in the Dutch oven.
- Moisten the combined blend in the iron kettle with a little bit of cognac and some more stock. Heat the kettle slowly and turn often with a wooden spoon.
- Add the white and black pepper as well as the ground allspice and check the salt (it must not become too salty).
- Now, turn often with wooden spoon and let simmer slowly for 5 – 6 hours. Add more stock as the liquid evaporates. The blend must be thick like heavy cream, but not too dry.
- Control the flavor to your preference with additional cognac, stock, seasoning and fish. Be careful with salt as it concentrates while the dish is cooking. Turn often with a wooden spoon, so that is does not burn on the bottom.
- If you do not have time to wait those 5-6 hours in one batch, cook half on one day for half the time, let cool and continue with the remaining the day after.
- Let the vorschmack cool, then put it in glass jars and refrigerate.
- Serve cold as an appetizer like a “pâté” on Russian and Finnish-style sour rye bread, with champagne and vodka along with all the prescribed sides.
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours
