Beef Collops | Easy Shrovetide Dish
Beef Collops – a simple dish but laden with history and tradition linked to Shrovetide viz. the days preceding the Lenten season which begins on Ash Wednesday. This is a dish cooked on Shrove Monday and consists of thinly sliced beef simmered in a beef-stock and wine based sauce, served with fried bread to mop up all the yummy sauce. Before going into the details of this recipe, let us first delve into the history and tradition behind this dish.
The History and tradition of Shrovetide
Shrovetide is the pre-lenten season and is the Christian period of preparation before the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent. It commences on the 9th Sunday before Easter (3rd before Ash Wednesday) known as Septuagesima Sunday and includes Sexagesima Sunday (the 2nd Sunday before Ash Wednesday), Quinquagesima Sunday commonly called Shrove Sunday (the last Sunday of Shrovetide), as well as Shrove Monday, and culminates on Shrove Tuesday.
The word Shrove, derived from shrive, refers to the preparation for the Lenten season by the confession of sins. People would use this period which culminates on Shrove Tuesday, to prepare themselves for the Lenten season, which is the season of reflection and preparation before the Easter celebrations. As time has passed, Shrove Tuesday has transformed from being just a day of self examination and introspection, to a festive day with the character of Carnival and celebrated in a lot of places.
What is Fasching?
Fasching is Germany’s Carnival season which begins on the 11th day of the 11 month of the year at precisely 11 hours and 11 minutes viz. 11th November 11:11 AM and ends at the stroke of midnight on Shrove Tuesday. Fasching (Karneval) is a time of festivity and merry-making – it was a way to break the rules and poke fun at the rule-makers. In the olden days, during the Karneval period, the common folks took the chance of mocking the politicians and high placed people. To avoid persecution, all this took place behind masks to avoid identification. The days and nights were full of parades, masquerade balls, skits and other festivities.
The Karneval/ Carnival has now become an annual festivity around the world, with the most famous ones taking place at Rio de Janeiro, Köln (Cologne), Nice, Trinidad and New Orleans. While the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro is regarded as the craziest of them all, Germany is by far the most enthusiastic Karneval center in Europe. You must already be wondering that although I started off with the word Fasching, I’m now using Karneval. This is because the Carnival is a regional festival in Germany and celebrated in different ways based on the regional traditions and also known by different names:
Karneval – in the Rheinland (Rhineland) region
Fastnacht – around Mainz
Fosnat – the Franken region ( northern Bavaria)
Fasnet – Schwabia / Swabia region (South-west Germany) and South-west Bavaria
Fasching – around München (Munich) and in Austria
The word Fasching is derived from the German word vaschanc or vaschang, meaning” the last serving of alcoholic bevarages before lent”. Karneval is borrowed from French and Italian and probably comes from the Latin word carne levare, meaning “away with the meat”. Fastnacht is based on the old German word fasen meaning “to be foolish, silly and wild”
Following are the days of the Karneval/ fasching leading up to Ash wednesday:
Fettdonnerstag – Fat Thursday, also known as Weiberfastnacht (Women’s Carnival)
Rußiger Freitag – Sooty Friday
Nelkensamstag – Carnation Saturday, also known as Schmalziger Samstag (Greasy Saturday)
Tulpensonntag – Tulip Sunday
Rosenmontag – Rose Monday
Fasnachtsdienstag – Shrove Tuesday, also known as Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) or Veilchendienstag (Violet Tuesday)
Every year on Rosenmontag, the Karneval at Cologne records a 1.5million footfall. However this year due to Covid-19 the Karneval stands cancelled. You can read more about the Karneval/Fasching here.
The History of Beef Collops
Let us now comeback to the main topic – the Beef Collops. Along with the spiritual preparation and the Carnival, there is also Culinary tradition linked to the days preceding Ash Wednesday. Rich ingredients like meat, eggs, butter and milk were forbidden during the Lenten period and so to prevent wastage of these ingredients, people would use them up in the days before Ash Wednesday.
Shrove Tuesday is also known as Pancake day or Pancake Tuesday, especially in the Commonwealth countries, and this is a well known fact. Shrove Tuesday was the last day for consuming the rich ingredients and in UK, traditionally milk, butter and eggs ended up in a pancake batter. Other regions around Europe cook up similar rich dishes. In Germany, in the days leading to ash Wednesday, the bakeries would be stocked up with a kind of German doughnut known as Berliner or Krapfen (in Bavaria).
But what most people are not aware of anymore and, which has been forgotten in the sands of time is Collop Monday. Collop Monday was the last day before Lent, allowed for consumption of meat. The word Collop refers to thin slices of meat. The word is thought to have been derived from the Swedish word Kalops or French word Escalopes, both words meaning slices of meat. Collops were enjoyed for breakfast on Collop Monday along with fried eggs/ butter-fried bread. The fresh meat that was leftover was cut into thin slices, salted and preserved to be consumed after the Lenten period.
Traditional Collops was a dish consisting of thick slices of bacon fried and served with fried eggs. The fat from the bacon was used to fry the pancakes, the next day! As time passed, bacon was replaced by other meats, the most popular being Venison Collops. The scots have their own version of this dish called Scotch Collops which are patties of minced meat and not sliced meat.
The Process of making Beef Collops
I decided to try making collops using Beef. This Beef Collops recipe works best with a lean cut of beef – Fillet is best. Cut it up into thin slices or get it done by your butcher. Tenderize the meat if you think it is necessary. Heat some butter in a frying pan and fry some onions and garlic. Add some flour to this to form the base for the sauce.
Follow this with beef-stock and wine. I used red wine but you can use white wine if you so desire. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. finally add the beef and simmer it for about 15-20 mins. The cooking time is based on the cut of meat you choose. If it is lean and tenderized well, it will cook quickly. Serve the Beef Collops with slices of bread fried in butter.
Beef Collops
Equipment
- Frying Pan, Medium sized
Ingredients
For the Beef Collops:
- 50 gm Butter (unsalted)
- 1 Onion, Medium (finely chopped)
- 2 Garlic Cloves (minced)
- ½ tbsp All purpose flour
- ¾ cup Beef Stock
- ½ cup Red wine (can substitute with white wine if you desire)
- Black Peppercorns (freshly crushed), use as per taste
- Salt as acquired
- 500 gm Beef Fillet (thinly sliced)
For Serving:
- Slices of butter-fried bread
Instructions
- Heat the frying pan on medium heat and melt the butter
- Add the garlic and fry for about a minute
- Follow this with the onions and fry for a couple of minutes
- Add the flour, mix well and cook for about 30 seconds
- Add the beef-stock, followed by the wine and give a good mix
- Season with salt and pepper and adjust to your taste
- Add the Beef slices and simmer for about 20 minutes till the beef is cooked and the sauce has reduced and is thick
- Serve hot with butter fried bread
If you tried this Beef Collops Recipe, leaving a comment below the post along with a star rating, will enable more readers and cooking enthusiasts to discover these recipes! Also, if you are on Instagram, do share a picture of the dish and tag @one_plate_please to be featured in my stories!
Do follow me on Instagram , Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Reach me by email at contact@oneplateplease.com
Looking for inspiration for Pancake Tuesday?
