Raw but Right
The much celebrated raw meat or fish artistically sliced into delicate,paper thin sheets and spread out like a fan in a cold vinaigrette or Parmesan dressing carpaccio is becoming increasingly visible on menus across Delhi.
Shedding its exotic status,carpaccio begins to appear regularly at most diners in the city
The much celebrated raw meat or fish — artistically sliced into delicate,paper thin sheets and spread out like a fan in a cold vinaigrette or Parmesan dressing — carpaccio is becoming increasingly visible on menus across Delhi. “Carpaccio showcases the skills of the chef and restaurateurs are out to prove that they can also handle difficult dishes,” says food consultant Manu Mohindra,recalling the lamb carpaccio with olive oil and toasted coriander seeds that he rolled out at NuDeli in Greater Kailash II.
Carpaccio first originated in Harry’s Bar in Venice,Italy and was named after the painter Vittore Carpaccio since many of his paintings mirrored the crimson tones of raw beef. “Once a popular European dish,carpaccio is now moving out into Oriental and Mediterranean diners as well where even Fugu chefs,famous for handling the toxic fish are trying their hand at making it,” adds Mohindra.
When Andrea Aftab Pauro decided to introduce a new menu at his restaurant Baci in Sunder Nagar this week,he added Carpaccio de Manzo in the antipasti section. While the restaurant offered carpaccio in a special menus previously,this time,Pauro says,it has a far more prominent place in Baci. At Rs 375,your order will fetch a classic sampler of tenderloin carpaccio with the thin meat slices topped with shavings of grana (cheese) and mixed lettuce. “It is important to serve carpaccio since we’re an Italian restaurant and it is one of Italy’s signature dishes,” says Puoro. Though it started off only as wisps of raw beef,the word carpaccio now lends itself to anything paper thin,even slices of fruit and fish dressed in a variety of flavours.
Smoke House Grill soon plans to roll out its new menu,and you can expect clever new twists in the reed thin slices of different foods. To begin with is Surf n’ Turf Carpaccio,made of tenderloin and cured Scottish Salmon. “We make a roulade of the two meats and slice them out. It offers multiple textures and flavours and we dress it with an emulsion of onion seeds and top it with chopped salad,” explains executive sous chef Mayank Tiwari,Smoke House Grill. From their current menu you can sample poached Octopus Carpaccio at Rs 550. “Our interpretation of carpaccio is not just anything raw. We are trying to make it adaptable to the Indian palate and offer new flavours,” adds Tiwari.
Carpaccio is also manipulated masterfully in Asian cooking,with the textures almost original but including strong oriental flavours. At Wasabi that opened at Taj Mahal hotel in Delhi last year,Chef Masaharu Morimoto brought along many of his specialties including a salmon carpaccio.
When Ramola Bachchan decided on a European restaurant,she insisted on having carpaccio on the menu,says Uttam Karmokar,executive chef at Manre. Here,you can ask for a delicious platter of cumin-crusted carpaccio priced at Rs 475. “It is not an easy dish. We sear the block of beef tenderloin on a grill plate and freeze it before slicing it out. The preparation is long and tedious,” he adds.
At Diva,you can ask for a platter of smoked sword fish tuna and cod carpaccio. Even though the imported meats come at whopping rates,almost Rs 2,500 a kilo,it is not going off the menu anytime soon. “Diva menu has always featured a carpaccio and it shows how well the dish does in Delhi. People don’t have inhibitions about raw meats anymore and carpaccio is definitely here to stay,” she says.
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