Tafelspitz is the dish Vienna serves when it wants to be taken seriously. A single cut of beef, the tapering cap of the rump, is simmered barely moving for hours with root vegetables until it is tender enough to cut with a fork. Emperor Franz Joseph was said to eat it nearly every day, and the city's great beef restaurants still present it in its copper pot, broth first, meat second, with a ritual as precise as a pit stop.

The sauces are what make it sing: Apfelkren, grated apple sharpened with fresh horseradish, and Schnittlauchsauce, a soft, mild chive sauce made with bread and egg yolks. It is a perfect dish for a race day because it cooks itself, and the broth alone, ladled out with chives, is a meal for anyone still nervous about the first corner.

The beef and broth

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 lb (1.6 kg) beef rump cap (Tafelspitz)
• 1 lb (450 g) beef marrow bones or soup bones
• 1 medium onion
• 4 quarts (4 liters) water
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 10 black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• 3 medium carrots
• 1/2 small celery root
• 1 parsley root
• 1 leek
• 1 1/2 lb (700 g) small waxy potatoes
• 3 tablespoons chopped chives

Apfelkren (apple horseradish)

Ingredients

• 2 tart apples
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) lemon juice
• 2 inch (5 cm) piece fresh horseradish root
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 pinch salt

Schnittlauchsauce (chive sauce)

Ingredients

• 2 slices white sandwich bread
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) milk
• 2 hard boiled egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) sunflower or canola oil
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) warm beef broth
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 pinch sugar
• 1/3 cup fresh chives

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