Thanks to my exceptional use of words and flawless grammar, you might be surprised to hear that I am not a native English speaker. Shocking, I know, but true. I was born in the USSR and grew up in post soviet Latvia. Unfortunately as a nation we don’t have as rich culinary history as United Kingdom, France or even India and what little we know is highly treasured. In 2018 Latvia celebrated its 100th birthday. So to mark that occasion for a whole year various events were held, great many self-important people padded the back of other self-important people and more importantly an wonderful book was republished. The book in question was Tā pirmā pavāru grāmata, no vāces grāmatām pārtulkota (That first cookbook from German cookbooks translated), compiled and translated by a German pastor Christoph Harder.

Silhouette portrait of Christopher Harder — Silhouette portrait of Christoph Harder from around the time when the cookbook was published

Harder was born in 1747 Königsberg, Prussia to a family of brewers. In his time the city boasted a well known Protestant university where he studied mathematics and theology. After he finished his studies, Harder followed his eldest brothers footsteps and moved to Riga, taking up a job as a private tutor and later a pastor. Very early on he became interested in Latvian language and culture and within few years was able to speak the language fluently. In latter half of the 18th century the Latvian literary culture started to blossom. Being more interested in Latvian than German literature, during his time as pastor, Harder established a printing press and in 1795 published the first cookbook in Latvian.

Latvia just like a lot of other Easter European countries has a rather messy history. Up until the beginning of WWII Latvia’s landowning nobility, merchants and clergy mostly consisted of the Baltic Germans and that was the intended audience for the book or should I say their cooks. The book itself sadly doesn’t show much of a local recipes but reflects the fashion of the wealthy where the French cuisine dominated. However what it does offer is a interesting perspective of various European dishes through the eyes of Germans for the Baltic tastes. At least I think it is quiet interesting with a pinch of lost-in-translation humour and of dash historic fusion cuisine.

The book was written in old Latvian language where not only a lot of the words but also the spelling was different. Thankfully the republished edition has been thoughtfully translated in places and spelling made easier to read all the while keeping the old language charm. To ease myself into it, I decided to cook a recipe that I have seen in many other (mostly English) 18th century cookbooks - Beef a la Mode. Initially I intended to compare two recipes - one from the Latvian cookbook and one from the English cookbook. However I decided against it because A) I was interested of cooking the Latvian recipe as close as I could to the original and B) the English recipes I have my eye on has red wine in it and I had just finished the bottle I intended to cook with, and I didn’t want to open another one. Woops. So today I will just share my experience with the the Latvian recipe.

The recipe itself is very straightforward - cook the beef in liquid and aromatics until tender. There are however two things that you might find useful if you would like to try this recipe yourself. Firstly is the cut of beef. The Latvian cookbook doesn’t offer any hints so this is taken from the English cookbooks. Most recipes recommended a cut from the back of the cow that is fleshy and veiny (my butcher and I think it meant marbled). The three most cited cuts are the rump, the buttock of beef (which is where the rump comes from) and a cut that they called mouse buttock. After talking my butcher he recommended a cut called mouses ear. Just in case you are tempted to look the last part up on the internet, I would advise you to be careful because you will come across some not so nice images. He said that the cut comes from the back of the cow (knee joint if I remember correctly) and it fit the description perfectly. I tried to find information about that cut but got quickly discouraged so I am not sure whether it is a Australian thing or universal.

The second thing that you need to know about is the larding technique. Essentially you cut lard (or in some cases the recipe called for bacon fat) into long strips and with the help of a needle you thread the fat through the meat. I tried to take a photo of this process but failed rather badly so here are some image references for you. Previously I had never heard about this technique and the butcher kindly did it for me. He actually threaded a piece of butchers string through the meat tying the lard at one end. I asked his to do this because the recipes instruct you to roll the fat in spices before larding the meat. It is a very clever technique which allows you to season the meat from the inside and provides the fat to keep the cut juicy.

Overall I really enjoyed this dish. The meat was very juicy with nice flavour from the spices. I didn’t taste the ginger much but the cloves and pepper were wonderful in it. I am looking forward to cook the more elaborate version with wine and more spices in the near future and once I will do that will keep you updated.

Beef a la Mode

beef
1.2 kg beef (a slow cooking cut from the back)
lard or bacon fat, cut into strips
salt & pepper
butter
1 large onion
6 cloves
2 bay leaves
1 tsp black pepper
knob of ginger

gravy
1 heaped tbsp flour
salt and pepper
1 heaped tbsp butter
250 ml

Mix together salt and ground pepper and roll the fat in it, then lard the beef. In a large dutch oven brown the beef on high heat. Drain excess fat, add the onion and other flavouring and pour water until it covers the beef. Bring it to a boil, turn the heat down and cook until the meat is tender. For me it took around 4 hours. Take the meat out, drain and reserve the stock.

In the same or smaller pot melt the butter, add the flour and coat it in butter and cook it for a minute or two. Gradually add the stock all the while stirring. It is done when you can coat the spoon with sauce. If you are worried about lumps strain it through a sieve.

Beef is tasty hot or cold.

Bon Appétit,
Liga

Source

Harder, Christoph, Tā pirmā pavāru grāmata no vāces grāmatām pārtulkota, Vidzemes plānošanas reģions, 2018 (you can find the book free online here if you wish to have a look)