Heinz Reitbauer is at the helm of Vienna’s best restaurant, Steirereck, where he serves modern Austrian food which includes the resurrection of some long forgotten classics. Heinz is passionate about ingredients and even has his own farm, from which he sources much of Steirereck’s ingredients. The restaurant caters for every taste and offers a 35,000 strong wine list, as well as a ‘Meieri’ Milk Bar with 120 cheese varieties.
Ingredients
Jellied yellow beet succo
160g yellow beets finely juiced
45g apple juice
60g chicken stock
50g beeswax (organic)
3g Carpathian salt
2g granulated sugar
4g quince vinegar 5%
10 saffron threads (soaked in quince vinegar)
8g lemon juice
11g vegetable gelatine
Caviar pollen
200g yellow beet pulp
12g quince vinegar
3g Carpathian salt
Pinch of caster sugar
2 tablespoons char caviar
Yellow beet hearts
4 large yellow beets
300g yellow beets finely juiced
8g Carpathian salt
75g beeswax (organic)
10 saffron threads
Sour cream
70g sour cream
1g Carpathian salt
1g lime juice
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Char in beeswax
500ml beeswax (organic)
4 pieces of char fillet at 60g each (skinned and boned) taken out of the fridge 10 minutes before
Carpathian salt
Additional items
1 wooden frame 20cm x 20cm x 2cm
1 food grade silicone rubber mat (fitted into wooden frame)
Basil cress
Method
Jellied yellow beet succo
Bring finely juiced beet, apple juice, chicken stock, beeswax, salt and sugar to the boil, cook for 2 minutes and remove from the heat. Add vinegar, lemon juice and saffron and allow to cool at room temperature. Lift the wax lid and press the stock through a fat sieve. Boil it with the vegetable gelatine and pour the hot mixture onto a honeycomb silicone rubber mat or a flat sheet at 1mm thick. Cut out 4 large circles at 75mm and let them cool in foil.
Caviar pollen
Mix beet pulp, quince vinegar, salt and sugar and dry mixture in the oven at 40C for 48 hours. Finely grind in a coffee grinder, finely sieve and store in a dry place. Just before serving, roll 2 char caviar units the size of ½ mocha spoons in the mixture (to give pollen optics).
Yellow beet hearts
Take the fresh yellow beets, and with the help of two adjacent longitudinal sections, cut toward the beet heart (= 1cm wide wedge) to release the core, add salt and steam until soft. Meanwhile, boil the beets until finely juiced with the Carpathian salt and beeswax. Remove from heat and allow to cool at room temperature. Lift off the wax lid and pass the stock through a fat sieve. Add saffron and thoroughly pickle the steamed beets for 10 minutes until warm. Cut the beet hearts on both sides and serve hot.
Sour cream
Quickly mix all ingredients and refrigerate them.
Char in beeswax
Heat the beeswax to 84C. Salt the char fillets on both sides and place them with the meat side down onto the silicone rubber mat. Completely cover the char fillets with beeswax. Cook for 12-16 minutes depending on thickness of fish. Turn the form, remove silicone rubber and break out the char fillets carefully. Serve with some leaves of basil watercress.
Fine juice
Boil freshly squeezed natural juice and immediately filter the boiling hot liquid.