🥩 Boeuf à la ficelle

Name: Boeuf à la ficelle
Total time: 60 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: France · Paris
Ingredients: 800 g beef tenderloin, trimmed and tied with kitchen string; 2 litres beef broth; 4 carrots, halved; 3 leeks, cut into lengths; 4 small turnips, halved; 1 bay leaf, a few sprigs of thyme, 6 peppercorns; Coarse salt and cornichons, to serve

Origin: France · Paris

508kcal

per serving · 350 g

145kcal

per 100 g

66 gProtein19 g / 100 g

21 gFat6 g / 100 g

10 gCarbs3 g / 100 g

Boeuf à la ficelle is a French dish of beef tenderloin tied with string and gently poached in a well-flavoured broth with carrots, leeks and turnips. The meat stays rosy, tender and lean, and the vegetables soak up the broth. It is sliced and served in shallow bowls with a little broth, coarse salt and cornichons.

Diets

✓

No porkfor halal, the meat must be halal-slaughtered

✓

Gluten-freeno wheat, barley or rye in a typical recipe

✓

Dairy-freeno milk, cheese, butter or yogurt in a typical recipe

✓

Keto-friendly3 g carbs per 100 g

✓

High protein19 g protein per 100 g — 52% of the calories

Not vegetarianbecause of: beef tenderloin

Not veganbecause of: beef tenderloin

Allergens

None of the 14 major allergens in a typical recipe.

What it is made of

beef tenderloincarrotleekturnipbroth

Recipe

4 servings60 min

Ingredients

800 g beef tenderloin, trimmed and tied with kitchen string
2 litres beef broth
4 carrots, halved
3 leeks, cut into lengths
4 small turnips, halved
1 bay leaf, a few sprigs of thyme, 6 peppercorns
Coarse salt and cornichons, to serve

Method

Bring the broth to the boil with the bay leaf, thyme and peppercorns.
Add the carrots, leeks and turnips and simmer for 15 minutes.
Tie the beef to a wooden spoon with a long string and lower it into the simmering broth so it hangs without touching the bottom.
Poach for 15–20 minutes for rare to medium-rare (about 55 °C in the centre).
Lift out the beef, rest it for 5 minutes, then slice thickly.
Serve the beef with the vegetables and a ladle of broth, with coarse salt and cornichons on the side.

How to make it lighter

This is already one of the leanest beef dishes — keep it that way by skipping rich sauces.
Choose a low-salt broth and season at the table with a little coarse salt.
Add more vegetables to the pot and drink the broth to make the meal more filling.

History

The name means “beef on a string”: the meat is tied to a string so it can be lowered into the simmering pot and lifted out when done. The dish is often associated with the bistros of the old Les Halles market district in Paris. It remains a classic of French bistro and home cooking.

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Similar dishes

Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →