Traditional svíčková na smetaně: the Czech beef sirloin in creamy root vegetable sauce with knedlíky

Ask a Czech what the dish of their childhood is and the answer will be svíčková. It is the Sunday lunch, the wedding and birthday dish, the test of every cook and every traditional restaurant from Prague to Brno. The name comes from svíčková, sirloin, the noble cut the recipe originally called for and which many homes today replace with a cheaper cut of round.

The meat is the least important part. What matters is the sauce: carrot, parsley root, celery and onion roasted together with the meat, blended with the broth and cream until it becomes a lightly sweet velvet, with a base of bay leaf, allspice and lemon. On top go a spoonful of whipped cream, a slice of lemon and cranberry jam, a contrast that seems strange on the first forkful and addictive on the second.

The mandatory side is the knedlík, the steamed bread dumpling cut into slices, which exists to soak up the sauce. Without it, Czechs say it is not svíčková.

Recipe card

• Origin: Bohemia, Czech Republic
• Category: Main course, roast meat with sauce
• Difficulty: Medium
• Preparation time: 40 minutes (plus one night marinating)
• Cooking time: 2 hours 30 minutes
• Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients — meat and sauce

• 1.2 kg beef sirloin or top round in one piece
• 100 g bacon in thin strips for larding (optional)
• 3 large carrots in pieces
• 1 parsley root or 1 small turnip in pieces
• 200 g celery (celeriac or stalks) in pieces
• 2 onions in quarters
• 80 g butter
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 6 allspice berries
• 8 black peppercorns
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 500 ml beef stock
• 250 ml heavy cream
• Juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
• Salt to taste

Ingredients — for serving

• Bread knedlíky in slices (see tip)
• Unsweetened whipped cream
• Cranberry or redcurrant jam
• Lemon slices

Method

1. The day before, pierce the meat with a knife and push in the strips of bacon. Season with salt, black pepper and the allspice, cover with the vegetables, bay leaves and vinegar and refrigerate overnight.
2. Remove the meat from the vegetables and pat dry. Heat the oil in a large pot and brown the meat on all sides.
3. Set the meat aside, add the butter to the pot and sauté the vegetables from the marinade with the sugar for 10 minutes, until they caramelize a little.
4. Return the meat, add the stock, cover and cook over low heat (or in the oven at 160 °C / 325 °F) for about 2 hours, turning halfway, until tender.
5. Remove the meat and keep warm. Discard the bay leaves and peppercorns and blend the vegetables with the broth until smooth.
6. Pass the sauce through a sieve, return to the pot, add the cream, mustard, lemon juice and zest and cook for 10 minutes. Adjust the salt and sugar; the sauce should be sweet and sour and velvety.
7. Slice the meat thinly, cover with the sauce and serve with 3 slices of knedlík, a spoonful of whipped cream, a spoonful of jam and a slice of lemon.

Tips and variations

• Quick knedlík: mix 300 g flour, 1 egg, 150 ml milk, 1 teaspoon dry yeast and salt, let rise, shape a log, boil in water for 20 minutes and cut into slices with thread.
• Without parsley root or celeriac, use more carrot and celery stalks.
• A pinch of thyme in the marinade is common in Moravia.
• The sauce is better the next day: make it in advance and only slice the meat when serving.
• Freezes well (meat and sauce separately).
• A glass of Czech pilsner is the natural companion.
• The sauce should not boil hard after the cream goes in, so it does not curdle.

Svíčková is the dish that measures the affection of a Czech kitchen. Make it on Sunday, calmly, and serve with lots of sauce and lots of knedlík.