Svíčková na smetaně | The Foodie Pilgrim

By John, 12 June, 2016

Region

Description

Czech Svickova

Svíčková na smetaně (hereafter simply svickova) is classic Czech home cooking, but it is often made for fine dining events as well.

It's a braised sirloin of beef with a sauce of pureed vegetables and cream, traditionally served with fluffy knedlicky (bread dumplings sliced with a thread).

I made this with my Czech friend Jana in November of 2015, when the coming winter made her think of her father's Svickova back home in Prague!

Yield

6 Servings

Preparation time

6 hours

Ingredients

2 1⁄2 lb Sirloin (See notes)

2 sli Bacon (not smoky)

1⁄2 Celeriac

2 carrots

2 Parsnip (See notes)

1 Onion

2 Bay Leaf

1⁄2 t Allspice

1 t Thyme

2 T Fresh Parsley

1 c White wine vinegar

4 T oil or bacon fat

2 T Butter (Unsalted)

1⁄2 t Sugar

1 Lemon (juice of, fresh squeezed)

1⁄2 c Sour Cream

Instructions

The night before, lard and marinate the beef: Lard the beef with the bacon, then finely dice the onion, carrots, parsnip, and celery root. Add the herbs and the vinegar. Put it all into a large zip-lock bag and mix it around, then add the beef to marinate overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Remove the meat from the marinade and dry it with paper towels. Sear it in on all sides in hot oil or fat and set aside.
If the oil is burned, then discard it. Deglaze the pan with the marinade and let it boil down.
Add 2 T butter and saute the diced vegetables until soft and savory.
Add the beef, add hot water to braise it, and cover the pot. Braise the beef until the interior heat reaches 180 F. It should be fork-tender.
While the beef cooks, prepare the knedlicky.
Remove the beef from the pan and set it aside, covered.
Now make the sauce: Remove the bay leaves and then puree the cooking vegetables and liquid until it forms a pale smooth sauce, then add the sugar and the lemon juice. Bring to a low boil and add salt and pepper as needed.
When the beef and the sauce are ready, then you can assemble the dumplings and garnishes for the traditional presentation with sweetened cranberry jelly, whipped cream, and sliced lemon.

Notes

Meat: The allegedly "true" recipe calls for a tenderloin, which of course need not be marinated or larded. That's a pretty pricey cut to be braising. According to Wikipedia, a common substitution is the similarly shaped falešná svíčková ('false tenderloin') which is a cut from the front shoulder equivalent to jumeau à bifteck in French, or fusello in Italian. In the US it's a sub cut of the chuck called the chuck tender. These are not tender cuts; they come from the chuck, or the front shoulder, which does a lot of work. They are flavorful but they need slow moist heat to reach their potential. This cut is often larded for this dish.

Parsnip: The true recipe calls for parsley root, which is hard to find in New England. Parsnip is an acceptable substitute only under duress; I found dried parsley root at a health foods place online and it tasted very different from parsnip - and it made a very tasty Svickova sauce!

Knedlicky: I bought frozen Knedlicky from Stiglmeier German Sausages in Illinois at Morse's Sauerkraut in Waldoboro, ME, and they were better than I could have made.

Source

My friend Jana Ryndin, plus many web sources