Beef Sirloin in Cream Sauce

Ingredients

• Beef round (mock tenderloin or chuck roll) — 1 kg
• Bacon — 100 g
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Large onion — 1 pcs
• Carrots — 200 g
• Parsley (root) — 70 g
• Celery (root) — 70 g
• Apple — 0.5 pcs
• Lard — 2 tbsp
• Fresh thyme (leaves) — 2 tsp
• Sugar — 4 tbsp
• Whole grain mustard — 3 tbsp
• White wine vinegar — 100 ml
• Beef broth — 1.5 l
• Bay leaves — 3 pcs
• Allspice (berries) — 5 pcs
• Black peppercorns — 6 pcs
• All-purpose flour — 3 tbsp
• Butter — 3 tbsp
• Whipping cream (min. 33%) — 250 ml
• Pickled cranberries — 4 tbsp
• Lemon — 0.5 pcs
• Karlovy Vary dumpling

Steps

1. Clean the meat of membranes and excess fat. Cut the bacon into longer strips and, using a thin knife, make several punctures in the meat, then insert the bacon. Season the meat with salt and pepper on all sides.
2. Peel all root vegetables (carrots, parsley, celery) and cut them into small cubes; peel and chop the onion, cut the apple into cubes.
3. In a deep cast-iron pot, heat the lard and brown the meat on all sides. Remove the meat and set aside.
4. In the same pot, sauté the carrots, celery, and parsley in the drippings until golden; add the onion, and once it becomes translucent, add the apple and thyme and sauté gently for about 25 minutes in total.
5. Add sugar to the vegetable base, let it caramelize briefly, stir in the mustard, after a minute pour in the vinegar and let it evaporate briefly. Season with pepper and salt and pour in the broth.
6. Place the bay leaves, allspice, and black peppercorns in a cloth or bag and tie it; place it into the sauce. Return the browned meat to the pot so that it is about two-thirds submerged.
7. Cover the pot and place it in an oven preheated to 160 °C; bake until tender for 2.5–3 hours.
8. When the meat is tender, remove it and also remove the cloth with spices from the sauce. Leave some of the drippings and vegetables in the pot.
9. Prepare a light roux (see sub-recipe). Add the roux to the warm sauce and cook it while stirring constantly; blend the sauce with an immersion blender until smooth and strain it through a sieve into a clean pot.
10. Cook the blended and strained sauce for approximately 15 minutes, taste and season with the juice of half a lemon, salt, and possibly sugar.
11. Finally, add the cream to the sauce and heat for approximately 8 minutes, do not bring to a rolling boil.
12. Slice the meat. First, place the sauce on a plate, then the meat, and add the Karlovy Vary dumpling. Top with pickled cranberries and a slice of lemon; optionally, add a spoonful of whipped cream to taste.

Roux (light)

• All-purpose flour — 3 tbsp
• Butter — 3 tbsp

1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter, add the flour, and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 3–4 minutes until light or pinkish in color.
2. Remove the roux from the heat. Rule for adding: either add cooled roux to warm sauce, or conversely, add cold broth/liquid to warm roux to prevent lumps from forming.