Mmm raw beef. Yum! To some. I know people can be freaked out at the prospect of eating completely cold cow, and I’ll try and be sympathetic to that fact. Maybe you’re even fine ordering a little tartare out at the wine bar, but wouldn’t know where to start preparing it yourself. What I do, and what I recommend, is go to a good butcher and just ask them, “what do you have that is good to eat raw?” They are sure to give you something up to the task, likely fillet or a piece from the round. If you trust your butcher, which you should, I think this will make you feel better when you sit down to dinner.
Anyway, Kitfo is a lovely raw beef dish originated by the Gurage in Ethiopia. Finely minced beef is dressed with warm spiced and clarified butter and then served with fresh farmer’s cheese (ayib) and collard greens (gomen) cooked, chopped and dressed the same way. More typically you would serve this with kocho, a sort of steamed-starch flatbread made from false banana leaves, but it is lovely with injera as well. I haven’t yet made injera myself, one day for sure, but for now I just ask nicely to buy some at the nearest Ethiopian restaurant. I wouldn’t let that be a barrier though, this was frankly delicious scooped onto salt and vinegar potato chips.
Ayib (Fresh Cheese) Recipe
Ingredients:
32 oz cultured buttermilk
That’s it! Put into a pot and bring up slowly over low heat. This is what I did: I held the buttermilk above 122°F and below 149°F for about 40 minutes. If you don’t have a thermometer, just keep the heat really REALLY low and watch it carefully. Once the buttermilk visibly splits, take the pot off the heat and let it rest for an hour. Then strain through a cheesecloth, wring out any excess liquid, and set aside! That is cheese!
Niter Kibbeh (Spiced and Clarified Butter) Recipe
Ingredients:
1 cinnamon stick
3 black cardamom pods
2 cloves
2 Tbsp koseret (sub in oregano or thyme if you have to, but I think you’ll be glad to keep this stuff around)
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 lb butter, unsalted
5 cloves garlic, whole
2 inches ginger, sliced into large pieces
Add the cinnamon, black cardamom, cloves, koseret, fenugreek, and black peppercorns to a large skillet or medium saucepan. Put over medium heat and toast until fragrant. Add in the butter and let melt. When the butter is fully melted and begins to bubble a little, turn the heat down to as low as it will go. Add in the garlic and ginger and let this ride, very gently, for an hour. Monitor the heat closely. After the hour, strain through cheesecloth and transfer to a container for storage. This is significantly more than you need for the kitfo, but it doesn’t make sense to make a smaller amount, I think. As foundational as this is for Ethiopian cooking, it is simply an amazing and flavorful cooking fat that you should get creative with.
Kitfo Recipe:
1 1/2 pounds lean beef, from a reputable source. talk to your butcher.
1/3 cup niter kibbeh (recipe above)
1-3 tsp of mitmita depending on spice preference
To start, dice up your beef into little tiny pieces. I like to cut planks with a sharp knife, cut those planks into thin strips, line them up, and dice down into little cubes. Once that is sorted, heat the niter kibbeh just barely in a skillet. Add in the mitmita and let bloom slightly in the just hot kibbeh before killing the heat. Let the pan cool down a bit before adding in the minced beef. We want this to stay raw of course. Mix through, season with salt and more mitmita to taste before serving up with injera (or kocho), ayib, and gomen!
Gomen Kitfo Recipe:
Take a large head of collard greens and cut the stem out. Give a good wash before adding to a hot lidded skillet or pot. Let cook, covered, for a few minutes or until wilted down. Cook for another couple minutes or so, uncovered, until the greens are relatively dry. Chop very finely by hand or in a food processor. The gomen is dressed exactly as the beef is, but of course with smaller amounts. Add about a 1/8 cup of kibbeh to a skillet, bloom maybe a 1/4 or 1/2 tsp of mitmita before adding the gomen, mixing through ,and seasoning to taste.