Surakartan Smoked Oxtongue Bistik - Bestik Lidah Asap Solo

Bistik is the Indonesian way for beef steak or biefstuk in Dutch. With the use of potato, mayonaise, bistik's name, this dish is a part of the marriage between Indonesian and Dutch cuisine. However, the Javanese says bestik, so I wrote as the Surakartan custom.

Surakarta (known as Solo) is a city in Central Java province, a place that is very popular with Bestik and Salat Solo. Salat Solo is another food that was influenced by the Dutch.

I followed Haley's recipe.  She came up by adding mustard into the recipe of sweet mayo. When I tried to make the mustard mayo of hers and tasted it, it reminds me of honey mustard that I usually buy here.

In her mustard mayo, she used egg yolk and sugar. I skipped the egg yolk and sugar, instead I added Manitoban honey.

In the sauce, I reduced the amount of kecap manis and ketchup, and skipped the sugar. Also, I made my own substitution of Worcestershire sauce since I forgot that I didn't have anymore in my fridge.

Twisting all the way in order to make the bestik.  The original recipe was called for raw oxtongue.  However, I had a smoked oxtongue, so I didn't follow some of the cooking instruction. Smoked oxtongue isn't available for purchased here. I was asking my uncle in law for help to smoke the oxtongue that I bought.

Additionally, there is the different between bestik and regular steak is the generous amount gravy or sauce for bestik. If you use raw oxtongue, you can make the gravy from boiling the oxtongue. I didn't use raw oxtongue, I got the gravy by making beef broth separately.

Surakartan Smoked Oxtongue Bistik
Bestik Lidah Asap Solo
recipe by Haley Giri, translated by me

Ingredients:
1 smoked oxtongue (1 kg), peel skin off with a sharp knife

Gravy:
1 onion, chopped
4 tbsp margarine (I used a combination of unsalted butter and olive oil)
2 Indonesian bay leaves (Haley didn't add this into gravy)
1 tsp ground white pepper
1 nutmeg, grated
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (my own: soy sauce, tamarind paste, chili powder, cloves, garlic, anchovies which I used fish sauce)
10 tbsp Indonesian sweet soy sauce (I used 1/2 cup)
10 tbsp ketchup (I reduced to 1/2 cup)
1 large tomato, cut into 6 pieces
salt to taste
2300 ml beef broth (I made from beef bones, Indonesian bay leaves and garlic)
2 1/2 tbsp all purpose flour, dissolved with a small amount of beef broth

Complements:
potato, wedged and steamed
baby carrots, steamed
peas, steamed
mustard mayonnaise

Mustard mayonnaise:
2 tbsp margarine (I used unsalted butter)
2 tbsp all purpose flour (I reduced into 1 tbsp)
1 tsp mustard
1 sdm gula (I substituted for Manitoban honey)
salt to taste
1 egg yolk (I skipped this)
2 tbsp water
2 tbsp lime juice (I substituted for lemon juice)

Directions:
Bestik
1. Bring the broth to a boil. Meanwhile, in a pan, stir fry onion with butter and olive oil until wilted. me
2. Transfer onion mixture into the broth pot and combine.
3. Add ground whitepepper, nutmeg, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Indonesian sweet soy sauce, pieces of tomato.
4. Add flour mixture and salt. If you need sugar, add it at this time as well.
5. Add smoked oxtongue and cook until tender. Remove oxtongue and slice into desirable size.
6. Reduce the heat, transfer sliced oxtongue back to the pot and let them simmer for 15 minutes or until oxtongue absorbs the spices.

Mustard Mayonnaise
1. Heat butter in a pan at medium-high heat. Add flour, stir and mix for about 10 minutes.
2. Add mustard, honey, salt and water. Cook until the flour is not sticky
3. Add lemon juice and stir.

Serving Suggestions:
Place sliced oxtongue on the centre. Add vegetable around the oxtongue. Pour the gravy on and serve with mustard mayo.