Carpaccio : how, where and when

What is beef carpaccio?

If understanding how to make carpaccio is really very simple, almost as basic as a boiled egg, knowing where it comes from and little curiosities is the starting point for bringing carpaccio to the table to its full potential. In short, an easy recipe, which hides some pitfalls and grandmother's tricks to make it sublime and made as it once was.

Carpaccio is a recipe made from bovine fish. The raw meat is seasoned with a sort of preparation also valid for marinating based on vegetables, oil, lemon and pepper. There are essentially two rules to be respected without a shadow of a doubt when preparing a beef carpaccio:

• the quality of the meat must be first choice
• the added ingredients must respect the balance and avoid excessive protagonism.

Which cut for meat carpaccio?

There are still two conditions, it seems that this is the perfect compromise to create the perfect carpaccio recipe. The meat must be:

• thin
• with very little connective tissue

Given that, being uncooked, it risks annoying the bite. The best choice is veal which is much more tender than common beef, however if you want to dare something special you need to focus your attention on the different characteristics of the steers raised in Italy. The cut of meat to be purchased in the online butcher shop or at your own butcher must be of top quality such as the rump, the rump, or the slices of rump. A valid alternative to create an exquisite dish by choosing an economical recipe is to prefer the silverside which, despite being excluded from the first choice cuts, manages to guarantee a good yield.

Who invented beef carpaccio?

Year 1950, Venice Harry's Bar. Legend has it that Giuseppe Cipriani, to amaze Countess Amalia Nani Mocenigo, proposed a dish based on raw meat. It was an immediate success since the proposal began with a careful choice of raw materials, all that was missing was the name. In that period Venice was inundated with a particular exhibition of the painter Vittore Carpaccio and the common feature of the exhibition was an intense, bold, at times selfish colour. In short, the exact same characteristics of the dish.

Cipriani chooses to describe carpaccio with a perfect maxim capable of underlining its strong character:

• “With carpaccio, cheating is prohibited”
• “His secret is in being entirely revealed, naked like mother made him”

Does cooked beef carpaccio exist?

The possibility of using any cut of meat to make carpaccio opens the way to infinite solutions and combinations. Maintaining the rule of balance proposed by number two, raw meat recipes must enhance the meat without exceeding in taste and flavour. Bizarre ideas combined with more traditional ones, you need to leave room for imagination.

Beef carpaccio with mushrooms It is a fact that beef carpaccio is delicious in both the cooked and raw versions. That raw carpaccio is perfect for a light summer meal is a real guarantee! It is a perfect dish for daring in the kitchen and giving free rein to your imagination, whether accompanied by cheese, raw vegetables or special sauces. We tried a super tasty recipe that you can read in our blog: Beef carpaccio with champignons .

Ready-to-use solution

If for the simple carpaccio the choice falls on ingredients present exclusively in the refrigerator or, at most, on the workbench, when you want to create a recipe with cooked carpaccio you need to go out of your way and choose a particular cut of meat that is also suitable for cold consumption.

The desire to amaze guests also comes from imagination, after all in the kitchen this is the essential element capable of moving from the feeling of obviousness to the curiosity of approaching something new, perhaps just modified or rejuvenated. Start from the desire to create something special and arrive in the magical world of simplicity that combines and calibrates basic ingredients. An evergreen example? The recipe for carpaccio and parmesan!