Swedish dinners: Biff à la Lindström

Like another"Swedish" dish I've documented, Biff à la Lindström likely has foreign origins. According to some sources, Lindström was of Swedish heritage but born and living in St. Peterburg when he and some friends visited a hotel in southern Sweden in the mid-1800's. Not pleased with the menu, he and his friend proceeded to "order" the following ingredients, mix everything together and ask the kitchen to fry the resulting patties in butter. True? Well, the hotel would love you to believe so...

Don't let silly story turn you off, though. This is a great dish that's not too complicated!



The ingredients (left to right, top to bottom): a couple tablespoons of capers (chopped), two anchovies (chopped), three egg yolks, a tablespoon of HP sauce (perhaps A-1 steak sauce or even a few drops of Worchestershire sauce would work?), three tablespoons pickled beets (chopped), a few tablespoons ground pork, about a pound of ground beef, an onion (chopped), a cooked potato (chopped) and a tablespoon dijon mustard.



Start by mixing everything up!

Of this mixture, make four large patties.

I suggest serving this dish with pan-fried potatoes. So, after making your patties, peel as many potatoes as four people will eat and cut into uniform pieces. Fry in plenty of oil (I used a combination of canola and home-rendered lard as all of my duck fat is currently preserving a batch of confit) at a moderate heat until golden.

Here's the potates as well as a few patties (one adult, two kiddie) frying:



Serve with a vegetable of choice and with a fried egg on top.





This would work great with an excellent ale (even if it worked wonderfully with a 9-year old Gran Reserva Rioja, too!).

Bridgestone wrote:

Bridgestone,

To a fellow likes his burgers med-rare topped with an egg this is an incredibly evocative image. Sprinkle of coarse sea salt and I'm in business

Enjoy,
Gary

And salt it needed... But just a little.

Thanks, Gary!

By the way, for anyone interested in authenticity, there are a few modern embellishments in this version: the HP sauce, the anchovies and the dijon mustard. They make for a tastier patty but certainly skip over those if you are interested in making the "Real Deal".