Name: Bigly Beef Carpaccio
Prep time: 25 min
Total time: 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients: 12 oz beef tenderloin, center-cut; 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil; 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice; 1 tsp Dijon mustard; 1/2 tsp kosher salt; 1/2 tsp coarse black pepper; 3 cups, lightly packed baby arugula; 2 oz, for shaving Parmigiano-Reggiano; 2 tbsp capers, drained and patted dry; 1 tbsp fresh chives, minced; 1 lemon, for zesting; to finish flaky sea salt; 1 loaf crusty bread, for serving

Bigly Beef Carpaccio

Prep

25m

Cook

Total

25m

Bigly says

Let me tell you something. Beef carpaccio is the most elegant thing you can serve a human being. Raw beef, sliced so thin you can read the newspaper through it — and I'm not exaggerating, I have personally read a sports headline through a properly cut slice of carpaccio, my eyes do not lie — drizzled with great olive oil, snowed with parmesan, hit with capers and arugula. Phenomenal. A masterclass on a plate. The kind of dish that makes a Tuesday feel like an anniversary.

An old Italian woman cornered me once at a market in Piedmont and told me three things about carpaccio. One: the beef must be PRISTINE. Tenderloin. Center cut. Trim every speck of silver skin or the texture is ruined. Two: it must be COLD. Cold beef slices clean. Warm beef tears like wet tissue and you've embarrassed yourself in front of your own family. Three: the dressing goes ON the plate first, the beef goes ON TOP. The other way around and you've crushed the leaves under a wet blanket of beef. She made me repeat it three times before she let me leave. I still hear her voice.

The restaurants will charge you $28 for a postage stamp of carpaccio with a single sad strawberry as garnish on the corner of the plate — twelve dollars worth of strawberry, by my estimate, and not even good strawberry, the bland kind they pick green and ship in a truck. A scandal. We're going to make a whole platter. For half the money. Better than the restaurant. Not even close. It's a slaughter.

Ingredients

12 ozbeef tenderloin, center-cut(highest quality you can find, fully trimmed)
1/4 cupextra-virgin olive oil(the good bottle, this is the moment)
2 tbspfresh lemon juice
1 tspDijon mustard
1/2 tspkosher salt
1/2 tspcoarse black pepper
3 cups, lightly packedbaby arugula
2 oz, for shavingParmigiano-Reggiano
2 tbspcapers, drained and patted dry
1 tbspfresh chives, minced
1lemon, for zesting
to finishflaky sea salt
1 loafcrusty bread, for serving

Steps

1
Wrap the tenderloin tightly in plastic wrap, shaping it into a uniform log. Freeze 45-60 minutes until firm but not solid — you want it sliceable like a cold stick of butter, not frozen through.
2
While the beef firms up, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, Dijon, kosher salt, and pepper in a small bowl until emulsified. Set aside.
3
Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cutting board. Unwrap the beef and, using your sharpest knife, slice it as thinly as possible against the grain — aim for translucent. Lay slices flat on the parchment.
4
Place a second sheet of parchment over the slices. Using a meat mallet or the flat bottom of a heavy pan, gently pound each slice even thinner, working from the center outward. You want them paper-thin and even.
5
Arrange the pounded slices in a single layer on a chilled large platter, overlapping just slightly to cover the surface.
6
Spoon the lemon dressing evenly over the beef. Scatter the arugula on top in a loose pile in the center.
7
Using a vegetable peeler, shave generous ribbons of Parmigiano over everything. Scatter the capers and chives across the platter.
8
Zest the lemon directly over the plate and finish with flaky sea salt and a final crack of black pepper. Serve immediately with crusty bread.

One more thing

You bring this platter out and place it on the table and the whole evening shifts gears. Conversation pauses. Someone says 'wow.' Someone else asks if you took a class. You did not take a class. You read this recipe. That's the only difference. You're welcome.